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PEASBLOSSOM, THE ADVENTURES OF THE 
PINE TREE FAIRY, AND OTHERS 






AS FOR THE PRINCESS, SHE LOOKED PERFECTLY LOVELY. 



PE ASBLOSSOM 

THE ADVENTURES OF THE 
PINE TREE FAIRY 
AND OTHERS 


MABEL FULLER ^LODGETT 

AUTHOR OF “the STRANGE STORY OF MR. DOG AND MR. BEAR,” 
“when CHRISTMAS CAME TOO EARLY,” 

“the giant’s ruby,” etc. 


ILLUSTRATED BY THE AUTHOR 



NEW YORK 

GEORGE H. DORAN COMPANY 



COPYRIGHT, 1917, 

BY GEORGE H. DORAN COMPANY 





NOV -2 1917 

^ • PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA 


OCi.A476897 


TO 

Dorinda Rogers Bakenhus 

AND 

Lois Wheeler Weeks 


THIS BOOK IS 
DEDICATED 





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CONTENTS 


CHAPTER PAGE 

L Peasblossom Saves the Princess . 13 

11 . Peasblossom AND Will o’ THE Wisp . 31 

III. Peasblossom and the Doll Who 

Found Herself 47 

IV. Peasblossom and the Discontented 

Mermaid 61 

V. Peasblossom and the Silver Lily . 75 

VI. Peasblossom and the Talking Par- 
rot 93 

VII. Peasblossom and the Magic Pine 

Tree 109 

VIII. Peasblossom, Tommy and Tina . . 125 

IX. Peasblossom and the Three Queens 14s 

X. Peasblossom and the Peacock Prince 161 

vii 







ILLUSTRATIONS 


As FOR THE Princess, She Looked Perfectly 
Lovely . . . . . . . . Frontispiece 

PAGE 

The Wicked Witch and the Captive Prin- 
cess 26 ^ 

At Work in the Queen’s Garden ... 

He Made a Very Attractive Picture as He 
Knelt Before His Queen 9 ^ 

The Prince Was as Proud and as Vain as 
THE Proudest and Vainest of His Own 
Peacocks 130 ^ 


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PEASBLOSSOM SAVES THE PRINCESS 





CHAPTER I 


PEASBLOSSOM SAVES THE PRINCESS 

T he Fairy Queen was very much pleased 
at the way the last batch of little fairies 
had come out of the shell. The Head 
Nurse had reported them as being a very 
fine lot, and as Her Majesty had said she was coming 
to inspect them, the Nurse was busy indeed washing 
their little faces, brushing their hair, giving out their 
birthday clothes, and generally getting ready for the 
royal visit. She had also to name theni so that when 
the Queen asked, “And who is this little fellow?’’ or, 
“Nurse, what have you called yon small fairy lassie?” 
she might be all ready to reply, as the case might be: 
“ ^Rainbow-wings,’ may it please your Majesty,” or. 
“ ‘Goldilocks,’ your Royal Highness.” 

When people are extremely busy and other people 
get under their feet and keep asking questions, the 
busy people sometimes get cross. 

You mustn’t blame Nurse too much if she was im- 
patient, because the last small fairy hatched was ex- 
tremely troublesome. He fussed because he didn’t 
like the colour of his new green suit, he yelled loudly 
because the soap got in his eye when his face was 
13 


14 PEASBLOSSOM, THE ADVENTURES OF 


being washed, and he whined because the first fairy 
out was named first, which was of course quite foolish 
and unreasonable. 

So when he said for the tenth time, “What’s my 
name? What’s my name?” the Nurse snapped out 
“Peasblossom,” which wasn’t as pretty as some of 
the others chosen, and which made the elf go so 
deep into the sulks that he didn’t come out even 
for the Queen’s visit, and was therefore sent sup- 
perless to bed and had to listen to all his brother 
and sister fairies having the best time, and feasting 
on honey dew, and roseleaf ice cream and candytuft. 
After supper the Queen, as is the custom, gave out the 
various duties of each fairy present and, as Peasblos- 
som had been so naughty, he came last again on the 
list, and her Royal Highness, perhaps because of his 
name, made him sub-under gardener’s boy, and that 
not even in the Queen’s flower gardens but only in 
the ordinary kitchen gardens of Fairyland. 

Peasblossom, listening from the deserted nest in 
the Pine Tree, heard it all and he said, “I won’t, I 
won’t, I won’t!” just as fast as ever he could, until his 
breath gave out, and he had to stop to catch it again. 

“I hate this horrid old Fairyland,” he muttered, 
“and I just won’t stay here,” and with this he put one 
small leg carefully out over the edge of the nest, flut- 
tered his wings once or twice to try them, and then 
boldly launched himself down, catching as he went 
at a thin whitish cord that hung from a spider’s web 
near by. 


THE PINETREE FAIRY, AND OTHERS 15 


Of course every fairy must learn to fly, just as 
small birds do, and Peasblossom would have got 
badly hurt, I fear, if that same cobweb hadn’t been 
so very near. Peasblossom didn’t know why it was 
— he would have been a pretty badly scared lit- 
tle fairy if he had guessed — he only knew that it had 
come there since the Head Nurse had taken her 
charges to the party: he didn’t know, because les- 
sons hadn’t begun yet, that spiders love little fairies 
so very much they eat them, and that no fairy is safe 
until he learns to fly and knows beside the first three 
kindergarten rules of magic. Peasblossom did see a 
great, hairy, terrible, many-eyed monster coming his 
way, and immediately hid in a friendly pitcher plant 
till it had passed, and then out he came boldly be- 
cause he didn’t know any better. 

Fortunately, the spider hadn’t seen him, so Peas- 
blossom continued his journey, partly flying, some- 
times swinging from one tall grass blade to another, 
and when he was forced to it, running nimbly along 
as fast as his small green shoes would carry him. 
They took him farther and farther away from the 
supper party. Peasblossom found a bit of honey 
comb and made a hearty meal, washing it down with 
dew from an acorn cup. Much refreshed, off he sped 
again, and now he found himself opposite the gate 
that barred the entrance to the Royal Palace grounds. 
As he watched and waited a soldier of the guard 
swung open the golden-barred door to look for an 
instant up the road to see if the Queen were com- 


16 PEASBLOSSOM, THE ADVENTURES OF 


ing. Only an instant, but Peasblossom had slipped 
by unnoticed. His green suit was not so bad after 
all, the same colour as the grass, not such a one as he 
had wished, all scarlet and gold and shimmering sil- 
ver, but good for travelling when it had to be secret. 

Peasblossom knew he was naughty and that if he 
were caught he would be severely punished, but he 
didn’t mean to be caught: and just then he saw lying 
under a rose bush a tiny white and emerald book, and 
the name on the cover was 

“Queen’s Magic.” 

Think of it! The Queen’s very own book and the 
bad little sub-under gardener’s boy had it in his 
hands! Peasblossom lay down comfortably on his 
stomach and began to read. I don’t know really how 
far he would have gone had not a royal page, very 
frightened and much out of breath, come running 
up, peering under every bush, and clearly looking 
for something. Peasblossom guessed what that 
something was and he knew it was high time to be 
on his way. He couldn’t bear to leave all those won- 
derful secrets behind him, however, so, though he 
grew pale at his own boldness, he tore out the page 
he was reading, thrust it into his pocket and rolled 
behind a near-by thorn hedge just as the page with 
a whistle of delight pounced down upon the book. 
Peasblossom shivered to think of what would become 
of him if he were to be discovered now. He began 


THE PINETREE FAIRY, AND OTHERS 17 


to think in fact that Fairyland was no place for him, 
and just as he made up his mind to that, his eye 
chanced to light on a queer carved ring that was fas- 
tened to the middle of a stone sunk flat in the ground 
beside him. Moss had grown over it and trailing 
vines. It must have lain there undisturbed for a 
good while, even as fairies reckon time. Peasblos- 
som took hold of the ring and pulled with all his 
might, but the big stone never stirred. It was a good 
deal like a grasshopper trying to uproot Plymouth 
Rock from its stern foundation. The curious part 
of the whole thing was that Peasblossom wanted to 
move that stone more than anything he had ever 
wanted before. He tugged and tugged till tiny beads 
of perspiration bespangled his tiny forehead under 
its little two-horned green cap. Then he bethought 
him of the “Queen’s Magic.” He pulled out the 
torn page from his pocket, his small black eyes bright 
with hope. Yes, here it was. “To move immovable 
objects: take ten grains of wishing powder,” Peas- 
blossom read no further; he hadn’t any wishing pow- 
der, and he was so angry he almost tore the whole 
page up. In fact I think he would have done so, 
which would have been most unlucky for him as you 
will soon see, only just at the moment, the stone 
stirred and a small mole poked his nose out from un- 
der it. He looked about, saw Peasblossom, but 
minded him no more than he would have minded a 
butterfly, so he wrinkled up his nose, shook some 
grains of dust off of the tip, and proceeded to come 


18 PEASBLOSSOM, THE ADVENTURES OF 


right up into the garden, tilting over the stone as 
he did so. Presently off he ambled about his busi- 
ness, and Peasblossom flew to the spot. He was 
quite disappointed. All he saw was a hole. But 
again he bethought him, holes may not be so bad 
after all; holes sometimes lead somewhere. Prob- 
ably that somewhere was better than the Queen’s 
Palace grounds for a naughty, runaway fairy with 
a leaf torn from the Queen’s own Magic Book in his 
pocket. 

By this time you will see that Peasblossom would 
never, never be content to spend his life tending 
vegetables in kitchen gardens as sub-under garden- 
er’s boy. And you will probably guess too just what 
happened now. Peasblossom folded his wings, 
turned on the little lights at the ends of the tiny 
green horns of his cap, and started boldly down the 
hole. 

Now, holes differ. This happened not to be a 
dull, ordinary hole. On the contrary it was a most 
interesting, winding, twisting-up-and-down, enter- 
taining kind of hole. It was a hole that had been 
used by gnomes who had dropped shining pebbles 
from their packs, which Peasblossom picked up, 
they were so pretty. It was also a hole that Hob- 
goblins used. Lucky for Peasblossom, these were 
asleep in smaller holes that branched off the main 
track. And lastly, it was a hole that led straight 
from Fairyland to earth, and the particular place 
where it came to its end was below the Palace case- 


THE PINETREE FAIRY, AND OTHERS 19 


ment, where sat a most beautiful Princess, who was 
crying bitterly. Peasblossom climbed out and as he 
did so a big tear hit him and he certainly thought for 
the moment that it was raining. The Princess looked 
at Peasblossom and dropped her handkerchief right 
out of the window, she was so surprised. Peasblos- 
som looked at the Princess and thought he would 
certainly like to marry her if she were only about 
seven thousand times smaller than she was. 

“Who are you?” said the Princess. 

“I’m Peasblossorp,’’ said the fairy, and he blushed 
because it was such a common-sounding name. 

“You’re very little,” said the Princess. 

“You’re very big,” said Peasblossom, mightily of- 
fended. 

“I wish you would help me,” said the Princess, 
not noticing. “I know you’re a fairy. I can see 
you’re a bright, up-to-date sort of person, and I need 
some new magic, because the wicked old Witch who 
keeps me prisoner has all the old magic there is.” 

Really, thought Peasblossom, this Princess is not 
so bad after all. “What does the old Witch do to 
you?” asked the fairy. 

“Oh,” sighed the Princess, “she ties my wrists to- 
gether with strands of my own golden hair and 
fastens me with it to a ring in the wall for hours and 
hours. That’s because she desires to talk to me about 
her ugly son whom she wants me to wed, and she 
knows I’d keep my hands over my ears if I could. 
She feeds me on dry bread and water, and makes me 


20 PEASBLOSSOM, THE ADVENTURES OF 


work from morning to night. She’s off on her 
broomstick now, thank goodness, but when she comes 
home, she’ll probably beat me.” 

Peasblossom stamped his small foot in rage. 

‘^The very idea!” said he. 

“Yes,” said the Princess; “have you got any magic 
with you that could help me?” 

“Well,” answered the fairy, “I’ve got some, but I 
don’t know how good it is.” He pulled out the torn 
page taken from the Queen’s own book. 

“How to take out grass stains,” he read. Pooh, 
that’s no use. “How to keep sweet pickles from 
turning sour” — The elf grew red in the face with 
anger. He looked swiftly down the page. Ah! 
there it was: “How to save a Princess”; but alas, in 
the very middle of the directions the writing ended, 
and poor Peasblossom hadn’t the next page. How 
he wished he bad torn out two instead of just this one. 
Still (the Princess was looking wistfully at him) 
still, even so something might be done. At any rate 
he would go as far as the book went and then see 
what happened. 

“May it please your Highness,” said Peasblossom 
with his best bow, “I go to fetch you some fairy fern 
seed to put in your shoes. I will return by evening,” 
and he had gone. 

The little elf was as good as his word. He knew 
just where the fern grew in the royal grounds, for on 
his hasty flight he had passed through quite a clump 
of it and he had heard its uses even in his short stay 


THE PINETREE FAIRY, AND OTHERS 21 


in the nest, because such things are with fairies a 
matter of common knowledge. He did not much 
relish going back, but he sped quickly along for all 
that and was soon cautiously peering out of the 
entrance to the hole. It was just as well he was cau- 
tious, for the very page who had found the Queen’s 
book was standing with his back to him, talking to 
another court fairy, and they were both within a 
fairy stone’s throw. 

^Tndeed, she was in a fearful rage,” said the one 
who had found the book; *^she got grass stains on her 
royal petticoat and now the magic for taking them 
out is gone. And she says she’ll never have any luck 
with her pickles, she’s certain, and that some of 
those tiresome earth people will be sure to want her 
help in freeing their captive Princess. She said 
she looked in her magic glass and saw everything 
Peasblossom had done until he disappeared in a hole 
in the ground. She says when she catches him he 
shall have the best spank ” 

But Peasblossom waited to hear no more; he 
ducked out of sight, and it was some few moments 
after the pages had gone that he ventured to the fern 
plot, filled his pockets with the seed and scrambled 
back to safety and the hole. 

When he reached the Palace again the Princess 
was gone from the window, but he heard her sob- 
bing and the old Witch scolding till late into the 
evening. 


22 PEASBLOSSOM, THE ADVENTURES OF 


At last, however, all was quiet save for the snores 
of the royal maiden’s jailor. 

Peasblossom climbed up the ivy that grew along 
the wall and peered within. Both Princess and 
Witch were asleep, but the former had tears on her 
rose-leaf cheek. The fairy got the royal shoes and 
shook fern dust in them, then he shook the Princess 
and, warning her to be very quiet, made her rise and 
put them on. The old Witch mumbled and turned 
but did not wake. As for the Princess, she of course 
had become invisible, because that is what magic 
fern seed does to one. 

Peasblossom took a feather pillow, put a slit in 
it, mixed pepper with the feathers, for a reason you 
will see presently, draped the Princess cloak about 
it, and in the end made it look fairly like the Princess 
herself lying face downward on her pallet bed. He 
even cut off a strand of her golden hair and let it 
stray over the cloak from underneath the royal cast- 
off cap so that it looked still more life-like. 

Then he flew up to the maiden’s shoulder, which, 
by the way, was white and dimpled, and the pair set 
forth on their flight, having taken the key of the 
prison door from the old Witch’s girdle. 

The Princess ran and ran; the stones bruised her 
tender feet; the tree branches caught at her golden 
hair and pulled it; the great dark swallowed her 
up and frightened her; the wind blew and she missed 
her warm cloak with its pretty silken tassels, but she 
feared the old Witch more than all these things to- 


THE PINETREE FAIRY, AND OTHERS 23 


gether, so she went on as fast as stone and tree and 
wind and the black night would let her. And after 
a while she began to cry: 

“Dearie, dearie me, I forgot the old Witch’s 
broomstick. She’ll mount and follow us and fly out 
the window. Peasblossom, Peasblossom, why didn’t 
you remind me?” 

Peasblossom felt grieved. “You can’t think of 
everything when you’re only one day and a night 
old,” he said. “Besides, you’ve got fern seed. The 
Witch can’t see you.” 

“There’s a hole in my shoe,” wailed the Princess; 
“it’s dropping out. Pretty soon she can.” But just 
then high up in the sky against a withered moon 
the royal maiden saw the old Witch herself on her 
broomstick flying fast and furiously toward the east. 
And with that she turned right about face and for- 
tunately just then they came out on the King’s high- 
way and set out toward the west. And by and by it 
was daylight. 

The Princess’s silken shoes were in ribbons and 
the fern seed was gone. The Princess’s violet eyes 
were wet and their lids were swollen with crying; 
the Princess’s golden hair was tangled and had burrs 
in it, but she was very, very pretty for all that. She 
was so tired that she sank down on the ground and 
was soon fast asleep. Peasblossom curled up in the 
warm ivory hollow of her throat and fell asleep also. 
By and by they woke up and they were hungry. The 
Princess’s dimpled chin began to quiver. “I never 


24 PEASBLOSSOM, THE ADVENTURES OF 


saw such a one for crying,” thought Peasblossom, 
who was feeling tired, rumpled and cross. 

He turned out his pockets to see if by any chance 
there might be a crumb to eat, and down on the 
moss fell the pretty stones he had gathered in the 
hole on his way earthward. 

“My!” said the Princess, “emeralds, rubies, dia- 
monds! Wherever did you get them, elf?” 

“I wish they were honeycomb, or even bread and 
cheese,” said the fairy, sighing, though it pleased him 
to have the Princess stop her sobs. 

Just then a wandering merchant passed by on the 
high road; the glint of the jewels caught his eye and 
he stopped. He was a fat, crafty old fellow, and he 
had heard what Peasblossom had said. 

“ ^And so they shall be an it like you,’ ” he quoth, 
rubbing his hands together as he spoke. “Honey shall 
you have in plenty, my pretty maid, and bread and 
a new warm cloak and shoes for your feet and a 
kiss in the bargain if you will give me these shining 
pebbles.” 

The Princess looked at him with disdain, but her 
hunger was great. “Keep your kiss,” said she, “but 
give me freely of such things as you have offered, 
together with a pail of milk and a crock of butter, 
and these jewels shall be yours.” 

“Hoity-toity,” said the merchant, “not jewels, no, 
no, fair maid, pebbles, pebbles only, but they please 
me, and you must give them all to me. Stay 
you here till I go to the town near by and bring you 


THE PINETREE FAIRY, AND OTHERS 25 


such things as you seek.” Which was a hard bar- 
gain, but the Princess must needs say yes to it. 

So away he went, as fast as he could go, which 
was not very fast because he was old and fat. The 
Princess, being weary of waiting, began to cry again. 

“Goodness,” said the fairy impatiently, “why do 
you always do that?” 

“Because I’m so p-pretty,” sobbed the Princess. 
“If you’re p-pretty something n-nice is likely to 
happen if you c-cry.” 

And something did, for along the high-road came 
a white horse and on the horse the most beautiful 
young Prince in the world, and he heard the sound 
of the royal maiden’s weeping and pulled up his 
great milk-white steed in a hurry. 

The Princess had lost her crown in her flight 
through the forest, her clothes were torn and she 
herself was pale with hunger, red with weeping, 
briar-scratched also and with tangled hair, but she 
looked perfectly lovely for all that, and nobody but 
a Princess could have managed it. 

As for the Prince he was all a Prince could be, 
and was just as clever, and understanding, and in- 
terested as any ordinary man. And the long and 
short of it was he had the Princess up on his horse 
behind him in a jiffy, with Peasblossom perched 
on the charger’s ear, and the dust from the horse’s 
hoofs covered the fat old merchant who was toiling 
down the road with the pail of milk, the crock of 
butter, the bread and honey and cloak and shoes for 


26 PEASBLOSSOM, THE ADVENTURES OF 


the Princess, and who had already made up his mind 
as to the spending of the jewels that were now being 
borne away from him. And the moral of that is, 
you should not be too greedy. And there’s another 
moral that I must mention — about the old Witch 
this time. It is that it is a poor thing to lose your 
temper because, beside everything else, anger makes 
people stupid. And when the old Witch couldn’t 
find the Princess owing to the fern seed, and had 
scoured the place on her broomstick, she came home 
in a terrible temper. The feather pillow dressed 
up in the royal cap and mantle with the long tress 
of golden hair to look like the Princess met her eye 
and made her more angry still. So she seized her 
stafif and began to beat the sham figure, and as she 
did so a cloud of feathers rose in the air, mingled 
with the pepper that Peasblossom had mixed with 
them and the old Witch began to sneeze. She 
sneezed and sneezed and sneezed, and her head got 
looser and looser till all of a sudden with one last 
violent sneeze it flew off altogether and that was the 
end of her. 

But Peasblossom and the Prince and the Princess 
rode to safety, to delicate food, and satins, silks and 
ermine, to diamonds, pearls and a jewelled bed, to 
rose gardens and a Palace by the sea. 

The Prince, of course, married his Princess and 
they lived happily forever after, because that always 
follows when the right Prince is fortunate enough 
to rescue the right Princess. 



THE WICKED WITCH AND THE CAPTIVE PRINCESS 






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THE PINETREE FAIRY, AND OTHERS 27 


They gave the best they had to Peasblossom, but 
even this royal best wasn’t good enough, because, 
you see, strange as it may seem, the little fairy was 
lonesome for Fairyland. So he put his wits to work 
and sent a letter of apology to his Queen, together 
with the story of what he had done, good and bad, 
and enclosed the missing page torn from the royal 
magic book. He said in his letter that he had been 
pretty young when he had done all his naughtiness, 
which was true, and now he was older and wiser 
and would his royal mistress please to forgive him 
and take him back. He would even be willing to 
do his best as sub-under-gardener’s boy if that was 
the royal pleasure! 

The Queen was very glad to get the letter. She 
had had a dreadful time with grass stains, because 
fairies dance so much on the grass they continually 
get their clothes stained, and she had not had any 
luck whatsoever with her sweet pickles since Peas- 
blossom had left her kingdom. 

Beside that, there were a number of Princesses 
needing help, and she was very much distressed 
about them. 

Time had softened her anger, and she remem- 
bered the elf in the bright green suit as a fairy that 
might have the making in him of a truly pleasing 
and useful subject. She thought he had done well 
in the matter of the captive Princess, and she was 
exceedingly pleased that his trick had caused the old 


28 


PEASBLOSSOM AND OTHERS 


Witch to sneeze her head off. For fairies natu- 
rally hate witches. 

So she sent a gracious answer to the waiting Peas- 
blossom. He was to be Sir Peasblossom now by the 
express royal order, and he was made Supreme, 
Head, High, Royal, Keeper of the Queen’s own 
gardens. 

And Peasblossom was so happy and so grateful 
he made up his mind he would do everything to 
make his royal mistress forget the past and be 
pleased with the future. 

And he meant it so hard that he did just that 
thing and became in the end one of the best and 
most popular fairies in all the kingdom. 


PEASBLOSSOM AND WILL O’ THE WISP 



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CHAPTER II 


PEASBLOSSOM AND WILL O’ THE WISP 

P EASBLOSSOM was very busy and very 
happy as Head Gardener to her Majesty the 
Fairy Queen, but he had some small trou- 
bles. If you had asked him suddenly to 
name the one that annoyed him most he would have 
answered at once without stopping to think, ^‘Will o’ 
the Wisp.” 

Now Will o’ the Wisp was a fairy also, and a 
very naughty one. Peasblossom had been quite 
naughty himself at one time as you may remember, 
but his had not been an ill-natured naughtiness, and 
I’m sorry to say that Will o’ the Wisp never seemed 
to care for a moment how much he might hurt any- 
body’s feelings. 

The Queen was distressed about it. She said one 
day that Will o’ the Wisp gave her more trouble 
than her whole army put together, and she racked 
her royal brain to find some means of changing him 
from a careless, hard-hearted little imp to something 
that would be a credit to Fairyland. 

She told Peasblossom to take him and make him 
into something worth while, and Peasblossom did his 
31 


32 PEASBLOSSOM, THE ADVENTURES OF 


best, but Will o’ the Wisp had such lazy legs for 
work, such brisk little wings for mischief and such 
a nimble tongue for excuses, that Peasblossom came 
near giving up his post altogether rather than be 
responsible for the tricks of his new under-gardener. 
The worst thing Will o’ the Wisp did in the royal 
gardens was to neglect the Wishing Plant so that it 
nearly died, and if it had, well, what of the Earth 
people’s wishes? As it was, the wishing leaves broke 
off and flew away long before they were ready, and 
all because they got so dry for lack of water; while 
Will o’ the Wisp sat on a branch and played his 
guitar, and watched them floating off, crumpled and 
brown and altogether unsatisfactory to the people 
who were waiting for them below on the Earth. 

Nobody likes to have a fresh green promising 
wish turn into a dried-up, crumpled, withered thing, 
but Will o’ the Wisp thought it fun to watch, as 
being a fairy he could do, their disappointed faces 
and hear their cries of discontent. He even managed 
it so that quite the wrong people got the right wishes. 
He would send the golden-yellow money leaves to 
some old miser to whom it would only do harm; he 
would cause the brilliant scarlet leaves that meant 
toys and joys for children to go dancing along under 
the disgusted nose of some old book worm for whom 
such delights had long ago lost meaning. He sent 
catnip leaves to the dogs, while the cats rolled their 
yellow eyes in patient waiting; he sent mince-pie 
leaves to babies, and warm, bottled milk leaves to 


THE PINETREE FAIRY, AND OTHERS 33 


grown-ups; he sent a queen’s crown leaf to an organ 
grinder, and false teeth leaves to young maidens, and 
to poor old women he sent, what do you think? Just 
roller skate leaves, and that was about the worst of 
all. As I have said, he also managed that if the 
right people did get the right wishes, the wishes, in- 
stead of being fresh and fair and gemmed with fairy 
dew, were all dried up and withered so that the 
people would rather they had never wished at all. 

And in the end — well, in the end he got tired of 
the whole thing, and if the Fairy Queen hadn’t just 
happened upon him suddenly, while making a tour 
of her gardens, the Wishing Plant would have died. 
In fact, she got there just in time — there were only 
about three leaves left on what had been once one 
of the most beautiful and healthy plants in all her 
kingdom. 

The Queen was angry, I can promise you. She 
wasted little time in words, but gave short, sharp 
commands that made even careless Will o’ the Wisp 
uneasy. 

Peasblossom was sent for and told to see that 
without an instant’s delay the naughty under-gar- 
dener should be sent to serve the old grey Witch 
and take care of her Cat. 

‘^This is your very last chance. Will o’ the Wisp,” 
said the Queen, shaking her fairy wand at him as 
she spoke, ^‘and I wish Old Mother Grey Cloak 
joy of you. She’ll stand no nonsense, I promise you, 
and a fine scratching will you get from her big 


34 PEASBLOSSOM, THE ADVENTURES OF 


Cat if you worry it. But if you behave yourself for 
a year, I’ll have you back to Fairyland — otherwise,” 
the Queen drew her straight brows together with a 
most terrible royal frown and her silver voice rang, 
“otherwise. Will o’ the Wisp, it shall be the worse 
for you.” 

Even the mischievous imp was for once in his 
life thoroughly frightened. And not much pleased 
either at the task set before him. He had heard of 
Old Mother Grey Cloak and what he had heard did 
not make him anxious to serve her. But there was 
no help for it, so he wrapped up his belongings in 
a spider’s web, thrust them into a trumpet-flower 
which makes from its shape a very good travelling 
bag, shouldered his pack, and under Peasblossom’s 
sorrowful guidance went his way to the bleak, 
cold Witch country, which, as everybody knows, lies 
on the northeast border of Fairyland. Fairies love 
sunshine and hate shadow, and so Peasblossom, look- 
ing at the culprit, out of sheer good nature, began 
to tell Will o’ the Wisp how he could manage to 
cut short his exile by turning over a new leaf and 
being a help instead of a trouble, but the naughty 
fairy cut him short. 

“You’re a gardener turned policeman,” he said, 
“but I don’t have to listen to you. In fact, you’ll 
have to listen to me, for I’ve just made up a song and 
sing it I will, and you may tell the Queen about it 
too, for all I care.” And with this, with a grimace 
at Peasblossom, he began to chant the following 


THE PINETREE FAIRY, AND OTHERS 35 


verses, making as he did so, his two elfish horns on 
his forehead glow and go out in tune to the music. 
It is not a nice song, and it shows pretty well what 
kind of a fairy the singer was, but perhaps you had 
best hear it. This, then, is what Will o’ the Wisp 
sang: 

^^Out of the light and into the grey, 

Soon shall they beg me not to stay. 

On mischief bent, on mischief bent. 

The witch to tease- the cat torment, 

Fm Will 0* the Wisp so bad, so free, 

Fll not stay prisoner, no not me. 

On mischief bent, on mischief bent. 
Bringing trouble wherever Fm sent. 

Will 0^ the Wisp shall cause to stray 
Weary travellers from their way. 

On mischief bent, on mischief bent; 

Give o^e^ hoping that Fll relent. 

The Queen hath sent me very far. 

But back Fll ride on a shooting star. 

On mischief bent, on mischief bent. 

Will 0* the Wist) is well content/* 

Now, of course, Will o’ the Wisp was not con- 
tent. In fact, he felt very, very sorry, as any fairy 
well might, at being turned out of Fairyland and 
doomed to live with Old Mother Grey Cloak and 
her Cat for a year of punishment. But he wasn’t at 
all ready to stop being a naughty, tiresome fairy, 


36 PEASBLOSSOM, THE ADVENTURES OF 


and, as you may see from his song, very far from 
wishing to mend his ways. 

So perhaps the Grey Witch’s hut was the best 
place for him. He was lucky in that the Queen had 
not given him into the service of a Black Witch, for 
that is the very worst kind of all. A Grey Witch 
is not so malicious or quite so wicked, but a very 
dreary, dismal sort of person for all that, and one 
no right-minded fairy would ever live with for a 
moment if he might do otherwise. 

What the Queen said, however, that she meant. 
Even Will o’ the Wisp knew there was no help for 
it. He did make a face at one of the old gardeners 
who was picking beets for the royal kitchens as the 
aged fairy, spade on shoulder, stopped his work to 
look at the unlucky culprit, and he tried to trip up 
with his toe a fat old toad that was hopping away 
to his hole under the nearby tree-trunk. Peasblos- 
som saw all this and his heart sank. He very greatly 
feared that the pleasant land of Fairy would be shut 
forever from the elf at his side. But what could 
he do? Nothing but carry out the Queen’s orders 
and hope that the Witch’s home would be so much 
to Will o’ the Wisp’s misliking, that for very selfish- 
ness he would try to become a worthy subject of the 
Fairy kingdom. 

In silence, therefore, the two fairies flew along, 
except when Will o’ the Wisp would hum his new- 
made song, turning his twinkling black eyes full of 
naughtiness on Peasblossom’s grave face as he did so. 


THE PINETREE FAIRY, AND OTHERS 37 


And by and by they came to the boundary of 
Fairyland, and saw the Witch’s hut a little distance 
away. The Fairy Sentinel at the gate looked at Peas- 
blossom s passport, saluted and stood at attention 
while they passed. 

Out hobbled Old Mother Grey Cloak to meet 
them. Peasblossom gave over Will o’ the Wisp to 
her service, repeated the Queen’s commands, and 
said good-bye to the elf, who, however, paid no at- 
tention and did not reply, being already busy in try- 
ing to pull the tail of the Witch’s Cat that spat angrily 
at him from behind the Witch’s skirts. 

Old Mother Grey Cloak rapped Will o’ the Wisp 
smartly with her crutch. “Get ye into the hut, bog- 
gart,” said she, knowing well that every fairy hates 
above all things to be called a boggart, and into the 
hut was the elf forced to go, where he was to get his 
first taste of the Witch’s service. 

This, as I have said, was a grey country, foggy, 
bleak and desolate. The hut was all grey stone, 
covered with patches of grey moss. Around it were 
tall trees, which bore long, battered, grey leaves that 
rustled and moaned when the wind blew. The old 
Witch herself wore grey linsey woolsey, if you know 
what that is — I do not; and the Cat was grey and 
had yellow topaz eyes, which were the only things of 
colour in the place. 

Will o’ the Wisp hated it. He disliked extremely 
the way old Mother Grey Cloak said, “Dearie, 
dearie^ me^” to almost everything. He hated the fog 


38 PEASBLOSSOM, THE ADVENTURES OF 


which wet his beautiful wings and made them useless 
for flying, and more than all he hated the Witch’s 
crutch which she used freely to make herself obeyed, 
and next to that he hated the Cat, and the way it 
blinked at him. Even the broomstick on which his 
new mistress took her wild rides was weather-beaten 
and dingy, and nobody to look at it leaning against 
the wall could have guessed that it could take the old 
Witch straight up over the moon and back again in 
less time than I can take to tell it. 

Will o’ the Wisp hated the broomstick also, but 
he had a wild idea of using it himself to escape from 
the place. That is, he did have the idea until he 
tried it, and then the broomstick, like an unruly horse 
feeling the hand of a strange rider, bucked and 
kicked in such a manner that the elf was thrown 
off, and would have been badly hurt most likely, only 
it chanced to be a clear night and he could use his 
wings for safety. 

He was so angry at this and at everybody from 
the Fairy Queen down that he decided to make Old 
Mother Grey Cloak sick of her bargain. He began 
the very next day by upsetting the big pot of soup 
that hung over the fire. Then he did the same to 
Grey Puss’s saucer of milk. He teased the big Cat, 
pulled its tail, flying quickly out of reach of its claws. 
He hid the broomstick and so made the Witch late 
for a very select tea party that the Witch’s Union 
was giving on the top of a neighbouring mountain. 

Finding out also that his mistress was afraid of 


THE PINETREE FAIRY, AND OTHERS 39 


mice, he would wait till she slept, and then slyly 
imitate their squeaking, holding his sides with laugh- 
ter as the Cat dashed about trying to find its prey, 
while Old Mother Grey Cloak stood with gathered 
petticoats high up on the nearest footstool or dresser. 

The end of it was that the Witch lost her pa- 
tience. She hadn’t much anyway, and Will o’ the 
Wisp was provoking enough to bring tears of rage 
to the eyes of the most amiable Witch of them all. 

So that when one day, with ruffled fur and tail 
twice its natural size. Grey Puss came to her with 
his story of Will o’ the Wisp’s teasing, she simply 
stamped her foot, waved her crutch, muttered a 
charm, and there was the elf safe and fast, prisoner 
in a glass ball, and given over to the Witch’s Cat as 
a plaything. 

Will o’ the Wisp was saddened by this unlooked 
for punishment, but not a bit sorry for the naughti- 
ness that had brought him there. And he soon found 
that he could still torment the Cat by making the 
most frightful grimaces. Seeing this, a way out oc- 
curred to him, and one day a week or two after he 
had been made captive, and when the old Witch was 
off on an errand, he enraged Grey Puss so greatly that 
he hit the glass ball with his paw hard enough to 
drive it against the leg of the iron kettle and break it. 

In an instant Will o’ the Wisp had spread his 
wings and flown. Grey Puss was on his hind legs 
clawing vainly at him in the air. The elf flew safely 
over him (fortunately it was a clear day), stuck out 


40 PEASBLOSSOM, THE ADVENTURES OF 


his tongue as farewell, and the next moment was lost 
to view in the forest, the cat’s wild miews growing 
fainter and fainter in the distance. 

Meanwhile, Peasblossom had been busy as usual 
and when the Queen sent for him in haste he thought 
that it was something to do with the Royal Gardens. 
But it wasn’t; it was the news of the escape of Will 
o’ the Wisp that caused the summons. The Queen 
was sitting on her throne, her everyday throne, not 
the best one — she seldom used that for private audi- 
ences. In her hand was her magic blue road book, 
and it told her just exactly where the elf could be 
found at any given moment of his journey. It told 
other things also. For instance, that a wandering 
Princess was lost in the forest, “and,” said the Queen, 
smiling, “you are so good. Sir Peasblossom, at rescu- 
ing Princesses, that I am going to send you to this one. 
Only wait first and see what Will o’ the Wisp will do. 
I am giving him this very last chance to be a good 
fairy, and if he doesn’t take it, well — ” The Queen’s 
eyes grew very grave and she sighed, closing the book 
as she did so. 

So Peasblossom got his orders and departed. 
Meanwhile, Will o’ the Wisp, by means of the fairy 
lamps at the end of his horns, had been able, even 
after black night-fall, to wing his way deeper and 
deeper into the enchanted wood, but also farther and 
farther away from the hateful Witch and all her 
belongings. He supped from honey, for he robbed 
a bee so deftly that only when she reached her hive 


THE PINETREE FAIRY, AND OTHERS 41 


did she find her honey bags empty. He stopped to 
frighten some baby robins perched uncertainly on a 
tree branch, and just learning to fly, and was chased 
away by the angry mother bird. And at length 
when he could go no farther he curled himself up 
comfortably in an empty squirrel’s nest, drew his 
fairy cloak about him and slept. But a fairy always 
sleeps with one ear open. Will o’ the Wisp had fine, 
pointed ears, likely to catch the least disturbing 
whisper, so, of course, when a poor lost Princess 
came and sat at the very foot of his tree and wept 
and wrung her hands, her first sob awakened him. 
Nevertheless, he lay close and still. It was warm 
and comfortable there in his leafy bed, and if he 
hadn’t been such a curious little fellow he would 
probably have turned over and gone to sleep again. 

But the Princess was pouring out her tale of woe 
to the dark forest, which only kept on being dark, 
and much bigger than was at all comfortable for a 
lost Princess. Her wicked uncle had driven her 
forth ; her satin shoes were torn, her purse empty and 
worst of all, the Prince who should have met her 
at the big Pine Tree hadn’t come. This seemed to 
be just the big Pine Tree he had described, but here 
was the Princess, weary, weeping, faint with hunger, 
with her royal crown over one lovely ear and her 
golden hair all unbound and her silken garments 
torn and soiled, and no Prince. Either it was the 
wrong tree, or else the Prince had deceived her. 

‘Tt’s the wrong tree,” said a voice quite near. 


42 PEASBLOSSOM, THE ADVENTURES OF 


The Princess looked up in surprise, stopped weep- 
ing, blew her pretty nose, and put her handkerchief 
with the coronet in the corner, away. 

‘^And I’ll show you the right one.” 

‘^Oh, will you?” said the Princess eagerly, and she 
peered into the darkness, lighted now by two little 
lanterns, for as you may have guessed, it was Will 
o’ the Wisp who had spoken. 

‘Wes,” said the fairy, stepping forward, ‘T will.” 

Something about him now that the Princess saw 
more clearly made her hesitate. 

“Is it very far?” said she, “because I’m so tired 
and so hungry and so ” 

“Quite a piece,” answered Will o’ the Wisp, in- 
terrupting briskly, because, while he thought it would 
be fun to make the Princess go wrong on her jour- 
ney, he didn’t want to hear anything further about 
her troubles. 

“Oh,” said the Princess doubtfully, “I hope you’re 
sure. It’s very important. I wouldn’t miss the 
Prince for anything. And this looks quite like the 
pine tree he told me about. Still he isn’t here ” 

“No,” said the elf, “he isn’t. In fact, he sent 
me to guide you.” 

At this the Princess jumped up in a Uurry. “Thank 
you, thank you ever so much ; let’s go at once,” said 
she. 

^^The way is rough,” answered the naughty elf, 

“I don’t care,” said the Princess, “if only the 
Prince is at the other end of it.” 


THE PINETREE FAIRY, AND OTHERS 43 


^‘All right, then, follow,” called Will o’ the Wisp, 
chuckling to himself, and he flew at once right over 
a thicket of brambles and toward a sticky, horrid 
marsh, so that if Peasblossom, who had been listen- 
ing, had not been there, the poor young thing would 
indeed have had a hard time of it. As it was, the 
Fairy Queen, who always plans things well, had got 
her messenger at the big pine tree just in time. And 
the Prince, who, in spite of being a perfectly 
nice Prince in other ways, always managed to be a 
little late, was within fifteen yards or so of the place 
appointed and walking fast at that. Everything, 
therefore, as you see, was coming right for the 
Princess, and everything that Will o’ the Wisp had 
earned for himself by his hard-hearted kind of mis- 
chief was coming to him as well. For at Peasblos- 
som’s command a magic something touched the elf’s 
wings, and he unwillingly came to earth. 

“You have been a bad fairy. Will o’ the Wisp,” 
said Peasblossom gravely, while the Princess — her 
eyes round with wonder — listened. “You are a dis- 
grace to all Fairyland, and therefore you shall step 
foot in that kingdom no more. You shall dwell in- 
stead in marshy, wet places only, where your false 
lights are least likely to deceive the traveller. Be 
gone, therefore, by order of the Queen.” 

Peasblossom raised his sword to his lips and sa- 
luted, and Will o’ the Wisp, with hanging head and 
lagging feet, went forth to his exile. And the Prin- 
cess — well, the Princess had seen the Prince. So this 


44 


PEASBLOSSOM AND OTHERS 


is the end of my story, and if anybody shows you a 
light that flickers and then goes out in a marshy 
place and says, “There’s Will o’ the Wisp,” you may 
tell them all that you know about him. 


PEASBLOSSOM AND THE DOLL WHO 
FOUND HERSELF 




CHAPTER in 


PEASBLOSSOM AND THE DOLL WHO 
FOUND HERSELF 

P EASBLOSSOM did everything so well that 
the Queen of the Fairies gave him a great 
many errands that had nothing whatever to 
do with the Royal Gardens, of which, you 
may remember, he was chief. One of them was — 
but I think I had better begin in the good, old way 

with once upon a time : 

Once upon a time, then, there was a beautiful doll 
named Amabel. Her real name was Gladys Vera 
Rosalinda Muriel Amabel, but that took such a long 
time to say that people dropped first one name and 
then another, and at last everybody called her 
Amabel. 

She was, as I have said, extremely pretty. She had 
the sweetest deep violet eyes of glass, and the loveli- 
est spun flaxen hair; her waxen cheeks were tinted 
softly with rose, and she was stuffed with the very 
best sawdust; her feet and hands were so pretty also, 
waxen and rose-tinted too, and the rest of her was 
of pure white kid. She could say ‘‘ma-ma” and ^‘pa- 
pa” when pressed to do so, and while she looked 

47 


48 PEASBLOSSOM, THE ADVENTURES OF 


beautiful awake, she was even more enchanting with 
her lovely eyelids closed in sleep. 

Amabel, then, was certainly a doll for any little 
girl to love, especially as she had such a sweet nature 
that nothing ever made her forget to smile. 

When I tell you that she had a whole trunk full 
of clothes, the prettiest things you ever saw, besides 
a pink silk parasol and gloves (few dolls possess 
these), and that she belonged to a Princess, you will 
feel that Amabel had almost nothing left to wish 
for. But strange to say, it was belonging to the Prin- 
cess that made all the difference. You can under- 
stand this better when I tell you that the Princess 
before she had Amabel had everything else in the 
world a little girl could desire, and some of the 
things twice over. 

Now anybody would nearly cry with joy at having 
a pony if one hadn’t one already; but two ponies, 
though this seems strange, wouldn’t be twice as joy- 
ful. The second couldn’t ever mean quite so much. 
I think you know what I am trying to say. And 
Amabel, lovely as she was, happened to be the Prin- 
cess’s forty-second doll since Christmas of that year. 
So she didn’t get much attention. The first day the 
Princess pushed her about in a doll carriage lined 
with silver brocade with the royal arms on the sides. 
Amabel didn’t care for the splendour, but she loved 
being tended by her new mother. The next day the 
Princess took off Amabel’s blue silk frock with the 
lace ruffles and forgot to dress her again; a court lady 


THE PINETREE FAIRY, AND OTHERS 49 


did, but Amabel felt this wasn’t quite the same. The 
third day the Princess took her to walk, but soon left 
her under a tree and never came back. 

A horrid fat toad hopped up and sat beside her 
and frightened poor Amabel so she tried to call 
“ma-ma,” but couldn’t make her voice work. Fortu- 
nately a page came by and saw Amabel’s bronze kid 
boot sticking out of the leaves, so she was rescued. 

After that she got less and less attention, and at last 
she was shut away in a glass case in the royal nursery, 
in company with a number of other toys which the 
Princess forgot to play with. 

It was then that Amabel became really unhappy. 
She had nothing to say to the Mechanical Pig that 
was placed next to her in the case, nor he to her; the 
Jack-in-the-Box frightened her — he was so abrupt; 
one never knew where to find him. She liked the 
Musical Clown far better, but he thought Amabel 
too fine a lady to notice him, and she was too shy to 
speak first, so they never became acquainted. 

The Queen of the Fairies is so busy, and just then 
it was Spring and she had a lot of things to do. 
The leaf green had to be properly mixed, and all the 
flowers given their right dates for coming up. Such 
birds as had gone South had to have word sent them 
that it was time to return, and there were several 
thousand kinds of butterflies to notify, and you know 
how irresponsible and careless butterflies can be. 
These and many other things took up the royal days. 
Some of the fairies misbehaved and had to be pun- 


50 PEASBLOSSOM, THE ADVENTURES OF 


ished ; others did so very well they ought to be spe- 
cially rewarded. There were complaints about the 
weather man from the Earth people. The Queen 
found out he had gone to sleep and mixed up some 
of the months, which caused a lot of trouble. Then 
Santa Claus came on his annual visit. He was, of 
course, a dear, and anybody would have been glad 
to see him, but it meant a lot of extra entertaining — 
fairy suppers and fairy-balls. Santa Claus really 
danced very well for anybody who was so fat, only 
he just wouldn’t lay aside his fur-trimmed coat and 
high boots, which was trying. 

Is it any wonder then that the Queen, though she 
knew all about Amabel and the Princess, had not 
had time to do anything about it? 

She did intend to tell Peasblossom to see to it, but 
it slipped her mind for the moment, and meanwhile 
Amabel, though she still smiled, felt so extremely 
sorrowful that she just had to try to mend matters 
herself, and soon she got her chance. 

A careless housemaid broke the glass case, and 
Amabel with all the other discarded toys were left 
for the time on the nursery floor. And that very 
midnight, with a great deal of care, Amabel stepped 
over the sleeping form of the Mechanical Pig, who 
only grunted, and the Musical Clown, whose silver 
bells gave forth a faint, sweet tinkle, but loud enough 
to scare poor Amabel half to death. She had then 
only to climb carefully over Mr. Jack-in-the-Box, 
who most fortunately was asleep in his box, and so 


THE PINETREE FAIRY, AND OTHERS 51 


did nothing whatever to stop or frighten her, descend 
the stairs (how weak her sawdust limbs felt), pass 
the sentry, who was looking the other way, creep 
through the iron bars of the Palace gate (there was 
just room), and so escape. 

She was at once very much pleased and very much 
alarmed. She felt as though her sawdust was run- 
ning out, about the worst feeling a doll can have, 
and yet so happy to turn her back on the Palace, a 
Princess who didn’t have time to love her, and all 
the sad, sad days and nights in the glass case in the 
nursery. 

The forest where she found herself was vast and 
gloomy because the silver rays of the moon only half 
lit up its greatness. 

Little creatures, dressed some in fur and some in 
feathers, went swiftly by, each intent on his or her 
business. Nobody had time for more than a glance 
at the fleeting Amabel. Once indeed a big black 
wolf looked at her for a whole minute, with green 
eyes that glowed like lamps, so that her bronze boots 
quite failed to carry her. She fell, indeed, trembling 
to the ground and shut her eyes from very fear. But 
the wolf only sniffed at her once scornfully; luckily 
he disliked the taste of sawdust, and trotted away on 
other business. 

Still the thing had been a shock to Amabel, as it 
well might be to anybody whose adventures so far 
had been so few, and she was pleased enough to find 
a leafy hollow in which she could tuck herself cosily 


52 PEASBLOSSOM, THE ADVENTURES OF 


away, just as dawn broke and the birds began to sing. 

Now, near at hand as fate would have it, there 
lived a Goose Girl. She had blue eyes, rosy cheeks 
and two yellow pigtails. ,She looked something like 
Amabel, only she was not dressed in such fine clothes. 
She had, however, the same sweet smile, and, unlike 
the Princess, she had never had a real doll in all her 
life. 

It is true she had done her best to make one with 
a clothespin and a bit of cloth, and had got a won- 
derful lot of comfort out of it, only one can’t give 
quite all one’s heart to a clothespin, however much 
disguised in a petticoat, can one? The Goose Girl 
was like the Princess in this; she was very busy. 
But while the Princess was busy having her hair 
curled and putting on and off gold and silver and 
silken clothing and eating candy and ice cream and 
trying to decide which of her toys bored her least, 
the little Goose Girl was busy taking care of her 
geese, knitting stockings, scrubbing floors, putting on 
her rags in the morning and off at night, eating scraps 
the geese didn’t care for, and trying to decide which 
she would play with, if she only had the time, her 
acorn tea-set or her clothespin doll. 

The queer part of it was she often took her feath- 
ered charges quite close to the hollow where Gladys 
Vera Rosalinda Muriel Amabel was lying. And 
when Amabel saw her a great longing sprang up in 
her which thrilled her whole sawdust body. She 


THE PINETREE FAIRY, AND OTHERS 53 


wanted the little Goose Girl for a mother more than 
anything she had ever wanted before. 

But the little Goose Girl was so busy knitting and 
tending her flock that she never even glanced at the 
hollow. 

Amabel rested against the tree trunk, and won- 
dered what to do next and a small baby rabbit came 
out of its burrow and gazed at her curiously. And 
as she was wondering and the rabbit wondering also, 
Peasblossom came, sent in the nick of time by the 
Fairy Queen. You remember I told you how busy 
her Highness was. This I suppose made her tired, 
and being tired made her slightly cross, so that she 
began to complain as soon as Peasblossom had bowed 
himself into her royal presence. 

“It’s that wax doll now,” said the Queen. “Just 
as if I hadn’t enough on my hands. She’s gone and 
lost herself in the forest, and you know what sun and 
rain does to her kind, and how careless the weather 
man is getting. She lived either behind a glass win- 
dow in a store, or in a glass case in a Palace as far 
as I can find out most of her life. Now, of course, 
she’s perfectly helpless. Just lies there in a hollow 
in the wood waiting, and not doing one thing to help 
herself. Peasblossom, you go and tell her it’s much 
better for her to find herself than for me to find her. 
Besides I’m much too busy, and I believe I’ve a sick 
headache coming on, and I can’t be bothered.” Say- 
ing which, the Queen removed her crown and 
glanced at the waiting fairy. 


54 PEASBLOSSOM, THE ADVENTURES OF 


“Very good, your Majesty,” said Peasblossom, 
bowing low, “but ” 

“But what?” asked the Queen. To be perfectly 
truthful, she almost snapped out the question, only, 
of course. Queens never snap. 

“I was thinking ” 

“Yes?” said the Queen. 

“That she won’t quite know how to go about the 
work.” 

“Well,” said the Queen, who after all was per- 
fectly just, even if a little hasty, “that’s true. I tell 
you, Peasblossom, I’ll send the Black Crow to her — 
the one that lives near there. You tell her if she’s 
brave and does her best, good will follow. If she’s 
lazy and timid she’ll just have to lie there under 
the tree until the rain and the sun spoil her complex- 
ion. She’ll be a better doll for the trial if she does 
what a right-minded doll should do. And in the 
end she’ll find herself. Tell her that, Peasblossom, 
but as to the why and the how, don’t tell her. Only 
that the Black Crow is coming to test her.” 

“Very good, your royal Highness,” answered Peas- 
blossom, again bowing low for the second time, and 
then carefully backing out of the Queen’s presence. 
And he made his way as fast as might be to where 
Gladys Vera Rosalinda Muriel Amabel was lying. 
And once there, delivered his message. 

Amabel was surprised and rather frightened. She 
fried to think of something to say, but before she 


THE PINETREE FAIRY, AND OTHERS 55 


quite expected it Peasblossom had raised his green 
cap politely in parting and flown away. 

And before she had finished opening and shut- 
ting her lovely violet glass eyes in astonishment and 
dismay she saw sideling toward her the biggest, black 
Crow she had ever heard about. He came hopping 
along, his head on one side, and he had a wicked 
air about him that chilled Gladys Vera Rosalinda 
Muriel Amabel’s very sawdust. 

“How nice and glittery we look,” said the Crow 
in a hoarse voice, and he cocked his eye at the dia- 
mond buttons on Amabel’s frock. 

“Ma-ma,” said Amabel faintly. 

“Ho! ho!” laughed the Crow, and his mirth was 
like the rubbing together of rusty iron chains. “Call- 
ing for Ma-ma, are we? Well, the Princess isn’t 
likely to bother about you. In fact, she’s had a round 
dozen of new dolls since you sneaked out of the Pal- 
ace. Oh, yes, I saw you. And if it wasn’t for the 
Fairy Queen I’d make short work of you, flaxen 
hair, rosy cheeks, sawdust and all.” 

Amabel closed her eyes. This was quite too dread- 
ful. 

“But I’ve my orders,” went on the Crow. “The 
Queen says you are to have the chance of earning 
another mother. You may stay comfortably lost 
here in the forest, or you may come with me. If 
you come with me you’ll lose some of your fine things 
you delight in, but you’ll find yourself. Say, which 
shall it be?” 


56 PEASBLOSSOM, THE ADVENTURES OF 


A shudder passed all over Amabel’s white kid 
body. 

^Will it hurt?” she asked timidly. 

“Very likely,” answered the Crow. 

“Would I get a new mother?” said Amabel faintly, 
and thinking of the little Goose Girl as she spoke. 

“Yes,” said the Crow grimly, “all of you that was 
left to get.” 

He certainly wasn’t making it any easier. 

“Well,” said Amabel bravely after a pause, “take 
me. I’d do anything to find myself and get a real 
mother.” 

The Crow’s eyes glittered and he hopped closer. 
Amabel felt a sharp prick, a diamond button was 
gone; then another; off came a second. 

“Caw! caw,” said the Crow, flapping his black 
wings delighted with his spoil, and not caring at all 
for poor frightened Amabel’s feelings, and he seized 
one of her beautiful bronze boots in his ugly beak. 

Bump, bump went poor Amabel, and as he tugged 
her flaxen hair caught in a bramble and some of it 
was torn out. Her eyes opened and shut very fast 
as the Crow dragged her along, and, oh, her poor foot 
hurt because the horrid bird held her bronze boot 
so tightly. But she still smiled. She really did, and 
that shows of what kind of sawdust she was made. 
And Peasblossom, who all this time was watching, 
concealed in the branches near, by royal order, for 
that Crow was not to be trusted, and the Fairy Queen 
knew it, Peasblossom, I say, was watching and felt 



AT WORK IN THE QUEEN’S GARDEN 





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THE PINETREE FAIRY, AND OTHERS 57 


it time to interfere, so he made himself invisible, 
and flying down swiftly whispered something into 
the ear of the little Goose Girl who again was pass- 
ing that way. The little Goose Girl didn’t know a 
fairy had whispered to her, but something made her 
turn aside and then 

Well, then she saw a wicked-looking black Crow 
dragging along a perfectly beautiful wax doll by 
one foot, in the cruelest manner, and it did not take 
her a moment to decide what to do. 

She ran up in a flash and struck Mr. Crow a really 
good blow with her goose switch and with a loud 
“squawk” Black Crow let go Amabel’s foot and flew 
away. He was paid for his unkindness, because not 
only the switch hurt but also he had swallowed the 
two diamond buttons in his greedy haste, and they 
had begun to make him very uncomfortable. 

As for Gladys Vera Rosalinda Muriel Amabel, 
she was perfectly happy. For the little Goose Girl 
held her tight in her arms and was murmuring real 
mother words to her, such as the Princess had never 
used. And when Peasblossom well contented flew 
away to report to the Fairy Queen, both Amabel 
and the little Goose Girl were smiling. 





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CHAPTER IV 


PEASBLOSSOM AND THE DISCON- 
TENTED MERMAID 

T he Queen of the Fairies was expected to 
have a motherly oversight of all her king- 
dom, and even the uttermost parts, which 
were hardly Fairyland proper, were un- 
der her royal care. So that when word reached her 
from Under the Seas that the little mermaid “Silver- 
tip” was discontented, the Queen at once sent Peas- 
blossom to find out the reason, and see what could be 
done about it. 

Peasblossom obeyed, but he didn’t like his errand. 
It was hard on the mushrooms and asparagus and 
cabbages, and hard on the lilies and roses and sweet 
grass — these sudden absences of the Head Gardener. 
The under gardeners were a frolicksome, careless 
lot, except for an old wise head or two among them, 
and they needed their chief. The pansies got too 
much sun and the strawberries too much rain when 
Peasblossom was not there to see to such matters, 
and we all know how much harder it is to make 
things run smooth again than to keep them running 
smoothly. 

6i 


62 PEASBLOSSOM, THE ADVENTURES OF 


Besides that, Peasblossom disliked the water. He 
had no use for crabs, seaweed, eels or sea urchins. 
He hated to get his wings wet, and it made him cross 
to leave the golden sunshine for the queer green half 
light that the sea people called such. He didn’t 
wonder that Silvertip was discontented, but he 
wished she had been a little quiet about it instead 
of upsetting her whole watery circle. It was absurd 
when there was so much salt water already, for a 
mermaid to weep salt tears into it, and more absurd 
for Silvertip to dislike her mermaid’s tail. What 
are mermaids anyway without tails? Silvertip’s, as 
her very name showed, was a pretty one, but it 
seemed Silvertip didn’t think so. She wanted to lose 
it, to give it away, to do anything but keep it. She 
wanted this so much that she made everybody about 
her uncomfortable. The Sea Queen Mother said 
she didn’t know what young people were coming to 
anyway; the Sea King Father said if he had acted 
like that when he was young that he’d precious soon 
been brought to his senses by a nip from the claws 
of the Lobster Guard. The other mermaids counted 
their pearls, and combed their sea-green hair with 
golden combs, and sang and rode the sea horses and 
teased the dolphins just as usual, but Silvertip would 
have none of these things. 

She just sat and sulked in her cave, and she man- 
aged to sulk in such a manner that the very oysters 
closed their shells in disgust, and the cheery sunfish 
took themselves as far away as possible. When you 


THE PINETREE FAIRY, AND OTHERS 63 

act so that even an oyster notices it, it is quite time 
something should be done. 

Peasblossom, having heard these sorrowful tidings, 
felt so too, and he wished he were a sunfish for the 
moment, because he so disliked his errand. But the 
sooner commenced the sooner over. 

He looked at once quaint and businesslike as he 
stood in his diver’s suit before Silvertip, and he went 
right to the point, having first assured the mermaid 
that nothing whatever could be done for her unless 
she stopped moaning and came to the point herself. 
Which Silvertip did. She began the story of her 
wrongs in rather a low voice, but it got up higher 
and higher as she proceeded, till at last the very 
sharks and devilfish and such like monsters of the 
deep were drawn to hear her because being so very 
disagreeable themselves they really like unpleasant- 
ness. What the mermaid said was under three gen- 
eral heads: 

“I won’t — I can’t — I shan’t,” and three more: 
hate it — I despise it — I won’t bear it.” 

Peasblossom found almost everything under the 
sea came under these general headings, according to 
the discontented mermaid. 

Once in a while Silvertip would stop and slap her 
tail, just as naughty children stamp their feet, and 
when she did this all the horrid sea monsters about 
shook with laughter. And even the little fishes 
stood on their tails and laughed till Silvertip angrily 
seized one of them. But to the fairy it was no 


64 PEASBLOSSOM, THE ADVENTURES OF 


laughing matter. He tried in vain to reason with 
the mermaid, but she just wouldn’t and couldn’t 
and shouldn’t, and she put her white fingers into her 
pink shell-like ears in a manner at once rude and 
final. 

So Peasblossom at last lost patience and told her 
that 

‘‘She Should Have Her Own Way.” 

Perhaps that doesn’t sound very terrible to you, 
but sometimes people are extremely sorry just be- 
cause they have done exactly as they wished to do. 

You see the mermaid wanted to be anything but 
a mermaid. She wanted to shed her tail, grow feet, 
leave the ocean, and be either an earth or an air 
fairy, or a mortal. She said she never wanted to 
see so much as a grain of sea sand again, and she 
wouldn’t even stop to say good-bye to her former 
mermaid playmates, no, nor to her pet sea horse, nor 
even to the great Sea Father and Sea Mother. So 
Peasblossom gave into her hand the wishing ring 
and bade her use with care the three wishes attached 
to it, but before he was quite through speaking, Sil- 
vertip had wished on feet instead of a tail and wished 
herself as well on dry land. So there she stood by 
the ocean s brink with but one wish left, trying to 
balance herself on her new little feet, and dressed in 
the best ruffled sea weed and pearls, but for all that, 
rather a strange figure, with her rippling sea-green 
hair, her deep grey-green eyes and her conch shell 


THE PINETREE FAIRY, AND OTHERS 65 


still in her hand, the shell through which she had 
been used to blow when calling for her attendants. 

There were no attendants now; even Peasblossom, 
having his orders, had left her, the sun was sinking 
in the west, and the light growing dim, but to the 
mermaid trying to walk on her unaccustomed feet, 
the light was dazzling. The twilight of earth was so 
much brighter than the twilight of the deep sea. 
The pebbly beach was hard, and she walked on it 
with pain. The breeze blew cold, and her seaweed 
garments, pearl-sewn though they were, did not keep 
her warm. 

She saw in the distance a fisherman’s hut and so 
with much toil at last succeeded in reaching it and 
the door being open, the mermaid walked in. An 
old, old man sat by the fire mending his nets. When 
he saw Silvertip he was overcome with astonishment. 
Her sea-green hair, her queer dress, filled him with 
surprise, and the way she shrank back from the fire, 
though the evening was chill (because water people, 
of course, hate fire), this, too, seemed strange to him. 

However, the mermaid did not give him long to 
wonder, but demanded that she be taken at once to 
the King. She had no idea of staying in a fisher- 
man’s hut, and she wanted to enjoy her new life in 
a Palace. So far there had been more pain than 
pleasure in the change she had so much wanted, but 
she felt sure things would be to her liking in the 
King’s Palace. 

The old fisherman was too much afraid of his 


66 PEASBLOSSOM, THE ADVENTURES OF 


strange guest to do aught but obey her. The King’s 
Palace was fortunately not far away. Indeed, the 
light from the torches in the royal court yard could 
be seen from the fisherman’s hut, but there was a 
weary climb up a rocky crag and over a stony pass 
before one reached the castle gate. 

Silvertip was used to gliding about without effort 
in her watery home. Her silver tail with its beau- 
tiful scales was useful as well as lovely. But she had 
hated it. Now, therefore, she must climb as wearily 
as any mortal the rocky heights. 

Her bare feet were bruised by the hard stones, the 
wind took her long, rippling sea-green hair and 
made sport of it, her seaweed dress was torn by the 
brambles that hedge the narrow way. She had use 
for salt tears before she reached the Palace. Only 
the thought of the King, of soft cushions and sea 
cow’s milk kept her up. She did not know that there 
were no sea cows there, and that Earth’s food might 
be hardly to her liking. 

She had been told so many times that she was 
beautiful, that she had no doubt but that the Earth 
people would think her so. She knew her fluted 
seaweed robe was much admired in the Sea Father’s 
Palace. She did not think for a moment but what 
all the Court Ladies here would envy her its pos- 
session. She did know that the Earth people were 
ever anxious to get such pearls as she was wearing. 
Many a time, well hidden behind some rock in the 
ocean’s depths she had s^en divers, strange monsters 


THE PINETREE FAIRY, AND OTHERS 67 


they looked to her, seeking, ever seeking, such lost 
treasure that littered the very floor of her sea home. 

So she was sure that both for herself and for her 
lovely pearls the King would be glad indeed to see 
her. 

The Palace guards were not so polite, it is true, 
as the Palace guard at home. Every swordfish in 
the Sea Father’s kingdom would have saluted her as 
she passed through their ranks. These Earth sol- 
diers goggled at her like so many common sculpins 
as she limped between them. They nudged each 
other and laughed, but she was bent on reaching 
the King, and so paid but little attention to their 
stares and rudeness. She was a Sea-Princess, and 
everybody had always tried to make her remember it. 

She had never tried to give back any of this cour- 
tesy or kindness, I think chiefly because she had been 
so very busy remembering that she was the Sea-Fa- 
ther’s royal daughter, and that everybody’s first duty 
was to give way to her desires. She had really no 
time to think of anybody else. And the strange part 
of that is that the more she got the more discon- 
tented she became, till at last her own way had led 
her to this pass. 

By this time the old fisherman and his strange 
guest had reached the ante-room of the Banquet Hall, 
where the King and court were making merry. And 
after a tiresome wait a page ushered the pair into 
the royal presence. 

Silence followed by laughter greeted them. The 


68 PEASBLOSSOM, THE ADVENTURES OF 


King himself, a fat, elderly person, with his crown 
slightly on one side, shook with merriment. 

The Court Ladies held up their fans to hide their 
faces, and said, ^^La! la la!’^ in a delicate but dis- 
tressing manner. 

The King’s jester rattled his bells and rolled over 
and over on the purple cushions at the King’s feet. 

Even the grave Prime Minister, with a face like 
parchment and eyes like flint, smiled slightly, and 
the Keeper of the Records wrote the fact down at 
once, because it was something that had almost never 
happened before. 

Silvertip was at a loss. She did not understand 
these Earth people, and the poor old Fisherman was 
ashamed of himself, his errand and his companion. 
However, he managed to stammer out the little he 
knew of this strange mermaiden, and then Silvertip 
herself impatiently took up the story. 

She said that she was a Sea-Princess, that she had 
grown to hate the ocean and all it contained; that 
the Fairy Queen had sent her a wishing-ring, the 
one on her finger, and she had promptly wished her- 
self feet and wished herself on dry land, and that — 
well, here she was, and would the King kindly hurry 
and do something at once about it. 

You see the mermaid was beginning to get angry. 
But before the monarch could speak the Court 
Treasurer, a thin person who looked exactly like a 
fox, stepped forward, and bowing low, first to the 
King, and then to Silvertip, begged for a look at the 


THE PINETREE FAIRY, AND OTHERS 69 


wishing-ring, which the Mermaid, all unsuspecting 
evil, gave him and which he at once dropped into 
his own purple velvet pouch. 

“My good girl,” he said, “the King will doubtless 
have work given you in the Palace. But I will take 
care of your ring for you, and if you desire to use 
your last remaining wish, why you can come to me 
and we will talk about it.” 

He looked craftily at the King, and the King 
nodded. 

Silvertip was in a fury, and I’ll admit she had 
some reason for her anger. She began to rage in a 
manner that would have brought all the ocean cour- 
tiers to her feet, I mean her silver tail, and would 
have scared her Sea-Father and Sea-Mother into do- 
ing immediately anything she desired. But here it 
only brought more amused laughter. 

The Court Ladies said: “Fi, for shame! What 
manners!” 

The King’s jester said: “Now we shall not lack 
for fun-making.” 

The Prime Minister slightly waved his hand and 
murmured something about “the tiresome young 
person being removed.” 

The Court Treasurer said: “She should have a 
kitchenmaid’s dress given her,” for he added aside 
to the King, “her seaweed garments are sewn with 
what look like very good pearls.” 

The King nodded again, and promptly two sol- 
diers of the guard took Silvertip by her pretty white 


70 PEASBLOSSOM, THE ADVENTURES OF 


shoulders and turned her out. She could hardly be- 
lieve it. Her tears flowed, but nobody paid them 
the least attention, and the end of it was the Head 
Cook had taken her in charge, had bade her tie up 
her sea-green hair in a ’kerchief that it might not 
be seen, had given her a woollen dress of dull drab 
colour to wear the next day, and had shown her to 
a tiny bedroom, where, overcome with grief and 
weariness, she sobbed herself to sleep. 

She had not had so much as a sea-apple for supper, 
but she dreamed of the delicious kelp stewed with 
snails and garnished with starfish, served on mother- 
of-pearl, that would have been hers for the asking 
at home; she dreamed of her pet sea horse and how 
she never bothered to bring him his favourite seaweed 
to eat; she dreamed of the mermaids’ races, where 
she was ever ahead of the others, thanks to her beau- 
tiful, silvery tail — more powerful than theirs as it 
was more lovely— she dreamed of the Sea-Father 
and the Sea-Mother sitting sorrowfully on their twin 
thrones of whitest coral, and the merry sea urchins, 
ever up to mischief, but jolly companions for a mer- 
maid who would treat them gently as she had never 
done. 

She dreamed, and as she dreamed, her heart 
changed and the eyes of her mermaid soul opened. 

She dreamed she had the chance to go home, that 
the Fairy Queen was going to let her try just once 
more. And then she dreamed strangely enough that 
Peasblossom stood by her side, and that he held in 


THE PINETREE FAIRY, AND OTHERS 71 


his hand the purple velvet pouch of the Lord High 
Treasurer, and that the pouch was full of pearls, 
her pearls, and that underneath the pearls was the 
lost wishing-ring. 

This dream seemed so true that it woke Silvertip 
up and — sure enough, there stood the fairy Peas- 
blossom himself, by her bed side, looking down at 
her with a queer, little, one-sided smile on his face, 
and in his hand the ring, her ring, the Fairy Queen’s 
gift, the wishing-ring. 

“Well,” said Peasblossom, “I’ve been sent to ask 
you one question: “Where is the best place for a 
mermaid to live?” 

“In the Ocean,” answered Silvertip without a mo- 
ment’s loss of time. “And, oh! dear Sir Peasblos- 
som, please, please give me my ring and let me wish 
myself back, and I’ll be the happiest and best be- 
haved mermaid in all the Sea Kingdom.” 

“Very good,” said Peasblossom, smiling. “You 
shall have your ring, and the Queen desires me to say 
she thinks you’ve been punished enough and that 
when your feet touch the green water they will dis- 
appear, and your lovely silver tail shall take their 
place.” 

And at this the mermaid’s thanks were so sincere 
that Peasblossom was sure that she was a changed 
creature, so without more ado he handed her the 
ring, and Silvertip, with her long, rippling, sea-green 
hair unbound and her seaweed garment once more 
about her, stood for a moment looking at the waves, 


72 


PEASBLOSSOM AND OTHERS 


which flung themselves on the crags at the Castle’s 
rocky base, and which called and called to her to 
come. 

“I wish,” said Silvertip, holding the ring firmly as 
she spoke, “I wish I were back again in my dear Sea- 
Home.” 

And she was. 

And that is the end of the story of Peasblossom 
and the Discontented Mermaid, and if there is a 
moral I think it is that sometimes one can have too 
much of one’s own way. 

What do you think about it? 


PEASBLOSSOM AND THE SILVER LILY 




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CHAPTER V 


PEASBLOSSOM AND THE SILVER LILY 

P EASBLOSSOM was delighted to get back 
to his gardening, and he hoped that the 
Fairy Queen would not soon send him on 
another errand. 

For one thing, he was very much interested in the 
wonderful Silver Lily which had just come to bloom 
in the royal gardens. It had been a gift from the 
Ice Queen, and like the flowers of that far distant 
land it was all pure white. But such white! It 
glowed at will with a dazzling beauty and might act 
as a lamp which in itself could light the fairies’ 
revels if the owner so desired. It had the property 
also of opening any door that it touched, however 
barred by magic, and its perfume drove away gloomy 
thoughts, just as its lovely radiance drove away the 
dark. 

No wonder then it was prized above the other 
flowers of the Fairy Queen’s beautiful garden. And 
being so precious, it was guarded night and day by 
two well-armed fairies, and its care was Peasblos- 
som’s very own. 

He watered it every morning with his own hands 
75 


76 PEASBLOSSOM, THE ADVENTURES OF 


and every evening he covered it over, for the Fairy 
Queen wished it to come to its fullest bloom of 
beauty by Midsummer’s Eve, when she would show 
it to the fairies gathered together on the soft green 
turf where under the moon they were wont to dance 
and celebrate this feast of all Fairyland. The Fairy 
Queen was a little nervous about it. She had re- 
ceived word that the Gnome King had heard of her 
new treasure and greatly wanted it for himself. The 
Gnome King was the Queen’s enemy. Gnomes love 
darkness where fairies love light; gnomes live un- 
derground and fairies in the sunshine above; gnomes 
love gold and glittering jewels, fairies love rather 
flowers, and esteem the dew drop on the rose above 
the diamond in the mines. 

But the flower called The Silver Lily was another 
matter. Remember, it unlocked all doors. No 
treasure chest but what would open at its touch, no 
Palace gate but would swing wide, however many 
its bolts and bars. It was a power, then, that would 
give the Gnome King a great advantage, and an un- 
fair one, over the fairies’ Queen. And lastly, its loss 
would bring sorrow, just as its perfume brought 
care-free, joyous thought. 

Wherefore the Queen doubled the guard and bade 
Peasblossom watch as well, and then, quite content, 
went about the business of the Kingdom. 

Peasblossom however was uneasy. He knew how 
crafty the Gnome King was and how powerful. 
Sometimes a fairy would be captured by the under- 


THE PINETREE FAIRY, AND OTHERS 77 


ground enemy and put to work in the mines. If such 
an one escaped, he came back with fearsome tales of 
heartless jailors, heaps of treasure, and hundreds of 
gloomy passages beneath the earth where queer squat 
figures toiled for their master the Gnome King’s 
pleasure. 

So every morning Peasblossom gave a sigh of re- 
lief to find his beautiful Silver Lily blooming safely 
in the Queen’s Gardens, and the Queen’s guards, a 
little sleepy but still watchful, attending strictly to 
their duty. 

But one morning — Ah! you may guess what had 
happened. Only how it happened no fairy had been 
able to find out. Peasblossom came as usual, only 
there everything that was usual stopped; for not only 
was there no Silver Lily, but also there were no 
guards. Peasblossom rushed to the Queen with the 
terrible news, and the Queen rushed to the Prime 
Minister,, and the Prime Minister rushed to the 
Commander-in-Chief and the Commander-in-Chief 
rushed to Peasblossom. 

But there it was. Nobody knew anything about 
it. Everybody knew the Gnome King had done it. 
Everybody but Peasblossom thought it best that 
Peasblossom should go and get the Silver Lily back, 
and the sooner it was done, the better. The Queen 
especially felt this way, and Queens do not like argu- 
ments. 

Peasblossom thought of six good reasons, every 
one of them fine reasons, why he should not be chosen 


78 PEASBLOSSOM, THE ADVENTURES OF 


for this terrible task, but he did not have a chance to 
speak of even one of them. 

Chosen he was, without a doubt, and the Queen lost 
no time in making it clear that he was not only to 
bring back the Silver Lily, but he was also to do it 
on or before Midsummer’s night’s eve. 

How he was to do it the Queen did not trouble 
about because being a Queen she did not have to. 

So sadly Peasblossom started, and his royal mis- 
tress called after him that while he was about it, he 
might just as well bring the fairy guards back also, 
for the Gnome King had undoubtedly taken them as 
well as the Lily. 

Peasblossom knew of course that the Gnome King 
would be watching for any one attempting a rescue, 
so thinking the matter over, he decided to turn him- 
self into something that would look as much like a 
gnome as it was possible for a fairy to be. 

With this thought in mind he dyed his fair skin 
brown with walnut juice, and did the same to his 
hair. He packed a false hump on his shoulders and a 
queer false nose on his face. He folded his beautiful 
shining wings flat and hid them underneath a leather 
jerkin. He changed his delicate, pointed shoes for 
thick, nobbly, square ones, and he practised talking 
in the queer rumbly way a gnome talks, till he could 
do it as well as they did. Then he got a glittering 
diamond from the Queen’s treasure chest, as big as a 
hazel-nut, a flaming ruby the size of a marble and a 
cool green emerald as large as a clover leaf, and 


THE PINETREE FAIRY, AND OTHERS 79 


these he strung on a thin golden chain and hung 
about his neck; and the very last thing he did was to 
put in his pocket a small magic ball that was packed 
tight with samples of all kinds of powerful magic, for 
Peasblossom did not in the least know what special 
sort of enchantment would be needed in the Gnome 
King’s domains where his errand was soon to bring 
him. 

Oh, yes! I forgot to say that he also provided 
himself with a box of specially made very sticky 
caramels. And you’ll soon see how very wise he was 
in so doing. 

Peasblossom had talked with all the escaped 
fairies possible so that he might learn just what to 
expect from the Gnome King. One thing they all 
agreed was that the master of that dismal land was 
as mean as mean could be. Why, he even half- 
starved the big Dragon that guarded the gate by 
which one entered the Gnome Kingdom. The 
Dragon’s royal master said he did it to keep him 
fierce, but the fairies said it was just stinginess and 
that the poor thing’s very ribs showed for lack of 
food. 

Do you guess now why Peasblossom took the cara- 
mels? And it wasn’t all kindness either as you shall 
hear, because the caramels as you may remember 
were sticky. So that when after several adventures 
Peasblossom at last reached the entrance to the 
Gnome Kingdom and tossed the caramels to the ter- 
rible snorting beast on guard there, the Dragon could 


80 PEASBLOSSOM, THE ADVENTURES OF 


not resist snapping at them, he was so very, very 
hungry, but when he got them well in his mouth, he 
couldn’t do a thing but chew and chew on them, and 
Peasblossom with a chuckle slipped under the 
Dragon’s guard and in at the gate, knowing well that 
it would be some time before the Dragon’s jaws 
would be free to bite or even to call out for the 
gnomes to stop the intruder. 

I don’t believe caramels have ever been put to a 
better use. 

When you first get to Gnomeland the thing that 
strikes you most is the darkness. There are, to be 
sure, torches placed in the rocky niches of the walls 
so that the dwarf miners can see to work, but it is 
not a cheerful place for all that. But Peasblossom 
did not care to linger here. He sped along the wind- 
ing passages, looking enough like a gnome himself 
in his disguise to be taken for one. 

Nobody stopped him and nobody even looked after 
him. The gnomes’ eyes are dull, and to this the fairy 
trusted. His one thought was to get to the secret 
hiding place of the Silver Lily, and to do this he 
shrewdly thought he had best find the Gnome King. 
This however was not so easy. The elves that he 
questioned only looked frightened and scurried off 
about their own business. 

But at last he got one of them in a corner; he had 
a big. bunch of keys at his belt and more gold on his 
coat than the others, and Peasblossom felt that this 
particular gnome could help if he wished. 


THE PINETREE FAIRY, AND OTHERS 81 


But it was not until Peasblossom had taken the 
gold chain from his neck and offered him the beau- 
tiful diamond that he got what he asked for, which 
was nothing more nor less than a peep into the 
Gnome King’s treasure house. 

No underground elf of them all could resist such a 
diamond. So in the end, Peasblossom found himself 
looking through a chink in the rocky wall and what 
he saw no fairy I can promise you had ever seen 
before. It was a great cavern and from the roof fell 
constantly, like a golden torrent, pieces of the pre- 
cious metal, making by their fall the only music that 
the Gnome King cared to hear. The golden stream 
ran into a kind of trough cut from solid rock and 
flowed from that out through a hole and into some 
other secret treasure house without. 

The sides of the cave were of silver, and hung from 
the silver ceiling were golden lamps, each covered 
thick with flashing diamonds. Open chests full of 
precious stones lined the walls, and the earth floor 
was covered with rushes made of emeralds and 
woven flat into a new kind of precious pavement. 

The Gnome King sat on his throne, a single pearl 
that held all the soft colours of the rainbow. His 
garments were of fine spun gold on it, and the buttons 
were fiery rubies that winked and blinked like so 
many fiery eyes in the light of the diamond lamps. 

In the King’s crown were all manner of jewels 
and his sceptre was cut from a single topaz. His 
little black eyes were nearly hidden by his bushy grey 


82 PEASBLOSSOM, THE ADVENTURES OF 


eyebrows, and his snow white beard fell to his knees. 
His nose was royally long, long noses being the fash- 
ion among the gnome people, and his mouth was just 
a slit, like the slit in a penny-in-the-slot machine. 
His skin was brown and wrinkled. He looked mean( 
and he looked wicked and he looked full of evil joy, 
and in his hand was the Silver Lily. A delicious per- 
fume came from it and filled the cave, and a soft 
light shone from it so that the diamond lamps were 
not needed. 

Peasblossom’s knees trembled beneath him at the 
but he had not long to enjoy it, for the Keeper 
of the Keys pulled him back by the arm and fiercely 
demanded the diamond, the price of what he had 
seen. 

Peasblossom handed over the jewel, rather slowly 
it is true, for his fairy brain was working busily all 
the while. 

“I didn’t know our King was so rich,” said Peas- 
blossom, speaking like the gnome he was supposed 
to be. “And I didn’t really believe he would get the 
Silver Lily.” 

Hush, whispered the Key- Keeper uneasily. 
“No one is supposed to know he has got it. That 
is, not yet. You see our King is going to force his 
way into Fairyland with it and conquer that proud 
Queen and her silly subjects who actually like flow- 
ers and sunshine better than jewels and darkness. 
He doesn’t want his plans talked about.” 

“I see,” said Peasblossom, “but I don’t believe that 


THE PINETREE FAIRY, AND OTHERS 83 


Lily can be so wonderful after all. I wish I could 
see it nearer.” 

^‘Well, you can’t,” snapped the gnome. “I’ve 
risked a lot as it is. I don’t know what the Gnome 
King would do to me if he ever found me out.” 

“He won’t, don’t you worry,” said Peasblossom, 
“but I tell you I want to make a lily out of silver 
as near like that one in there,” and he pointed over 
his shoulder toward the Treasure Cave, “as I pos- 
sibly can. Lots of rich gnomes would buy a thing 
like that. And I’m tired of being poor. Why, be- 
side the diamond I gave you, I’ve only one ruby and 
one emerald. To be sure they are finer than the 
diamond, but what’s that?” 

The gnome beside him looked craftily about be- 
fore answering. 

“You say you’ve a ruby and an emerald as well?” 

“Oh, yes,” said the fairy, and he let the gnome 
catch a glimpse of them as he spoke, “and it wouldn’t 
take me long to copy the Silver Lily, for I’m a mas- 
ter craftsman. And then you see I could sell the 
copy, but not till you said it was safe to do so, and 
get a lot of gold for it. Gold! That’s what I like. 
These jewels are pretty, but I want gold.” 

“You silly!” thought the gnome, “why don’t you 
sell the jewels and save yourself a lot of trouble,” and 
he also thought, “what a chance for me. That fool- 
ish fellow doesn’t see that nobody could make a 
Silver Lily like the one in there.” 

And all this time Peasblossom stood twiddling his 


84 PEASBLOSSOM, THE ADVENTURES OF 


thumbs and making his bright fairy face look as 
stupid as possible. 

“Could you copy it in one night?” asked the gnome 
at last. 

“I think so,” said the fairy. “Anyway I’d give you 
my ruby for the chance ” 

“Well,” said the gnome, “I’ll let you in.” And in 
his black little heart he thought, “And as soon as I 
get my ruby, when the night’s over. I’ll call the 
guards and have this foolish fellow arrested as a 
thief, and so I’ll get all the jewels, and honour as well 
from the King.” 

Peasblossom, therefore, to his great joy had his 
way. 

And after a time when the Gnome King had 
looked his fill on the Silver Lily and shuffled off 
about his royal affairs, the Keeper of the Keys led 
Peasblossom into the Treasure Cave through a secret 
door, and, locking it right after him, went his way. 

Peasblossom lost no time with his magic, I can tell 
you. For he began with its aid at once to really 
make something like a copy of the Silver Lily. He 
worked fast and he worked well, and when he had 
finished he had something that just at a first glance 
would make you think you saw the Lily itself. And 
it took all his sample magic to do that much, so now 
he had only the real Lily and his own fairy brain to 
help him. 

Presently it looked as though he might soon need 
all the aid he could get, for the Keeper of the Keys 


THE PINETREE FAIRY, AND OTHERS 85 


was returning, and we know his wicked plan. 
Peasblossom did not know it of course, and he gave 
up the ruby just as he had promised. 

But one thing fortunately for himself and for the 
whole Kingdom of Fairyland he had done, before 
the gnome returned. He had put the lily he had 
made in place of the real one, and the Real Silver 
Lily he placed, where do you think? Why, in the 
very centre of the false hump on his back. 

This was a bit of good luck as well as quick think- 
ing, for now in the twinkling of an eye the Soldiers 
of the Gnome King were upon him. 

The false Keeper of the Keys was crying “Thief! 
Thief!” so loudly that the elves all about came run- 
ning up, each one curiously poking his long nose over 
the shoulder of his fellows and trying to find out 
what had happened. 

It was therefore surrounded by most of the gnomes 
thereabout that Peasblossom was dragged into the 
presence of their King. 

And right angry was that Monarch, I can tell you. 
So angry that his colour changed from brown to 
purple, his little eyes shot fire and his very beard 
curled with rage. And he gave so many contrary 
orders as to how Peasblossom was to die for his at- 
tempted robbery, because nobody guessed that the 
real lily was stolen, that the guards were puzzled 
what to do first. 

So while waiting final orders they marched Peas- 
blossom back to the deepest dungeon in all Gnome- 


86 PEASBLOSSOM, THE ADVENTURES OF 


land and securely chaining and bolting its heavy 
door, left him there, till the Gnome King should 
clearly state just vrhat terrible thing to do to him. 

But Peasblossom could laugh at bars and bolts be- 
cause he had the Silver Lily whose magic gift we 
know. Just as soon, therefore, as he thought the 
way was clear, he slipped the beautiful flower from 
his false pack, and how its perfume cheered and 
rested him! 

With it he touched the prison door and immedi- 
ately it flew open. 

Before the fairy lay a dark, winding passage, and 
there being nobody in sight, because all the guards 
had returned to the throne room for orders, Peas- 
blossom ran by the light of his magic flower as fast 
as his heavy shoes would let him. 

But not quite fast enough, for at the turning a 
gnome jailor saw him and saw as well the Silver Lily 
which Peasblossom held in his hand. 

Help! Help! Help!” shouted the gnome, running 
forward to seize the escaping prisoner, but by great 
good luck the fairy was able to trip him up. 

However, the gnome’s shrill cries had brought 
many other gnomes running, and these, guided by 
the sound of Peasblossom’s flying feet on the rocky 
way, came swiftly after. 

The fairy’s heart sank. How could he escape this 
angry mob, which was growing every moment, as 
other gnomes, catching sight of the Silver Lily, flung 
down their tools and joined in the pursuit? 


THE PINETREE FAIRY, AND OTHERS 87 


But the Silver Lily acted as though it were alive, 
and as anxious as Peasblossom to escape and get back 
to sunny Fairyland. It poured forth such fragrance 
as to make Peasblossom full of courage, yes, and 
strength also; at dark corners where the fairy might 
trip it glowed brightly, but when the band of gnomes 
turned the same corner behind them its light would 
go out, leaving them floundering about in the gloom 
of the underground world. 

Still even with this help it looked as though Peas- 
blossom could never escape. And what made it all 
the harder was the fact that just ahead of him he 
saw the gate which marked the Gnome King’s boun- 
dary and beyond which lay home and safety. 

The gnomes were so close now that he felt the hot 
breath of the foremost on his neck. 

Peasblossom as a last forlorn hope snatched the 
gleaming emerald, his last jewel, from about his 
throat and tossed it behind him. Instantly, for no 
gnome could resist such a temptation, the leader 
stooped to pick it up. The second was so close to 
the first that he fell head over heels over the fore- 
most gnome, and the third one fell over him. So 
there they were in the narrow passage struggling to 
get to their feet, while the flying fairy made good 
use of the new turn in the race. 

But alas! the dragon barred the way. A famished, 
terrible, hungry dragon. A dragon that would rather 
eat a fairy than anything else you could suggest for 
its entertainment. No caramels now to hurl into 


88 PEASBLOSSOM, THE ADVENTURES OF 


those dreadful jaws lined with gleaming teeth, and 
Peasblossom faltered, shut his eyes and gave him- 
self up for lost. But the Silver Lily had no such 
idea. Brighter and brighter it glowed, till it shone 
like the sun in the midday skies, and the dragon 
shrank back so dazzled by the blinding light that he 
could not see to strike. 

Under its very paw, uplifted in air, slipped the 
fairy, open flew the locked gate at the magic touch of 
the magic flower, and safe, safe in the good sunshine, 
on Fairyland’s green turf, lay Peasblossom, gasping 
and shaking yet from fright, but oh! so very, very 
happy. 

And what do you think? About him were clus- 
tered the Queen’s very guards who had run away in 
terror, when the Silver Lily had been stolen while in 
their charge, and who had waited ever since at the 
Gnome King’s gate, not daring to enter that dark 
underground passage, but hoping somehow that 
Peasblossom would come back with the stolen prize. 

And now he was back and the Silver Lily also, and 
they escorted him in triumph to the Queen, where, 
all Fairyland looking on, they heard her royal thanks 
and saw her joy at the return of her treasure. 

As for them, why, they, because Peasblossom asked 
it, were forgiven, but they could no longer wear the 
proud uniform of the Queen’s Guards, but were put 
to digging turnips for the royal kitchens. 

But Peasblossom was made Lord, High Chancel- 
lor and Commander-in-Chief, beside being Head 


THE PINETREE FAIRY, AND OTHERS 89 


Gardener, and if such honours would not content a 
fairy, beside keeping him very busy, I do not know 
what would. 


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CHAPTER VI 


PEASBLOSSOM AND THE TALKING 
PARROT 

O NCE upon a time there lived a beautiful 
Princess who had more Princes who de- 
sired to wed with her than any other 
Princess of her times. 

She was, as I have said, very beautiful. Her hair 
had been likened to gold, to sunlight and to rippling 
wheat; her eyes had been compared to deep lakes, to 
forget-me-nots, and to sapphires; her mouth, she was 
often told, was kin to a fragrant rosebud; her teeth 
were as pearls; her skin both lily and rose; her form 
like the willow, and so on down a long list, each 
suitor trying his best to think of some new and charm- 
ing, likeness to some new and charming thing to which 
to compare his lady. 

The best of it was, something that no Prince ever 
thought of saying, the Princess was, in spite of all the 
flattery she received, a truly sensible person. And 
she had a Parrot that she thought even more sensible 
than herself. 

This Parrot could say but three things, but the 
Princess felt the bird used great wisdom in its choice 

93 


94 PEASBLOSSOM, THE ADVENTURES OF 


of when to say them, though I think it was more by 
luck than by choice that the Parrot did so. Still, the 
Princess set great store by her bird’s advice, and it 
was well known that she would never consent to 
marry any Prince of whom her Parrot disapproved. 

Now these are the three sentences the bird had 
learned. 

“Poor Polly,” or “pretty Polly, wants a cracker.” 

“Why not try him?” and third, 

“Stuff and nonsense.” 

Now the Parrot disliked all these suitors because 
in earlier days a man had once pulled his tail. So 
whenever a Prince appeared to make his court to the 
Princess, the Parrot would at once begin to hop 
about in an angry manner, with ruffled feathers and 
red gleaming eyes, and scream over and over again : 

“Stuff and Nonsense! Stuff and Nonsense!” till the 
Princess burst out laughing and the poor Prince, 
much abashed and very red in the face, would bow 
himself sadly out of the royal presence. 

Then the wise old bird with feathers smoothed 
down, and eyes of natural colour, would sidle up to 
his mistress, head on one side to be fondled, and say 
his first sentence: 

“Poor Polly wants a cracker,” and the Princess 
never failed to have some sweetmeat ready for her 
pet. I’m afraid she was not sorry to see her various 
suitors depart. 

Every Prince had hope, however, that when it 
came his turn, the Parrot would say. 


THE PINETREE FAIRY, AND OTHERS 95 


^Why not try him?” but this had never happened, 
and so one by one the Princes took horse and rode, 
with drooping heads and heavy hearts, back to their 
several kingdoms, till at last the lovely Princess was 
left quite alone. 

But before she had time to feel lonely, something 
very strange happened. 

In a neighbouring country there lived a Giant. He 
was very powerful, and very big, and very wicked. 
He had all the latest inventions in magic, and among 
them a pair of the famous seven-league boots, so that 
when he took a little stroll he easily stepped over 
quite large mountains and fairly big rivers in his 
strides. And one day he started out for a real walk, 
and that is how he came to see the Princess. 

Unfortunately for her she was in her gardens with 
the parrot and the bird was screaming, this time with 
joy because the Princess had been feeding it with 
white grapes, its very favourite food. 

The Princess would put a grape between her rosy 
lips and the parrot would take it, flapping its green 
and scarlet wings with delight, and always coming 
back for more. And then the Princess began to 
dance along down the hillside leading from her 
castle. 

Now the Giant had quick hearing and the noisy 
bird attracted his attention, so peering through the 
thick branches of the top-most trees, he saw, as I have 
said, not only the bird but the Princess. And seeing 
her, he made up his mind to capture her. He had a 


96 PEASBLOSSOM, THE ADVENTURES OF 


room full of curious things, some rarely beautiful ; 
some the like of which could not be found in the 
whole wide world ; but among the lot he had nothing 
so rarely beautiful as the Princess. And he wanted 
her. Not because he loved her, but because he 
wished to feel himself the owner of such a wonder- 
fully pretty piece, something that could dance and 
sing to amuse his idle hours, and something that all 
the other giants would envy him for having. But he 
was crafty, and did not think he would try just then 
to secure this treasure, because the Palace guards 
were all about, and though their swords could inflict 
only pin pricks on his tough hide, still that might be 
uncomfortably like a horde of stinging bees. 

Therefore he went quietly away, for the seven- 
league boots were shod with silence, and the Princess 
never suspected that her pretty play and her parrot 
had been watched by an enemy. 

But the Giant knew, and laid his plans cunningly, 
and the end of them was that the fair Princess and 
her pet fell into the monster’s hands, and were car- 
ried away, over crag and valley and running river 
to the frowning castle of black rock that towered 
above the surrounding dismal country. 

The poor, little Princess! She wept and wept, but 
her tears only amused her jailor. He treated her as 
though she were a new mechanical toy, and indeed 
he so thought of her. 

He made her dance and he made her sing at his 
pleasure. 



HE MADE A VERY ATTRACTIVE PICTURE 
AS HE KNELT BEFORE HIS QUEEN 








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THE PINETREE FAIRY, AND OTHERS 97 


The Princess was proud and resisted at first, but 
the Giant soon brought her to terms by saying darkly 
that he was extremely fond of parrot pie, and by 
stretching forth his great hairy hands toward her pet 
as he said so. 

After that, what could the poor dear do but obey, 
but as she was a Princess with brains as well as with 
looks, she determined to use her wits and to escape 
with her parrot as soon as possible. And this made 
her think of writing a letter calling for help and 
dropping it out her window. Which she did: and 
now Peasblossom comes into the story. For one day 
as he was flying toward home through the giant coun- 
try, he saw something white hanging on a pine tree 
branch underneath the turret window of a giant 
castle. It looked very much like a lady’s handker- 
chief, and Peasblossom, remembering his first adven- 
ture, and of saving a Princess and talking with her 
from the branches of another such pine tree, stopped 
his flight to look, and found that he was right in his 
guess about the matter. 

And more than that, for the handkerchief had a 
crown embroidered in the corner, showing clearly it 
was the belonging of a royal personage. It was damp 
also as though wet with tears — doubtless the lady 
owner was unhappy. It hung on a branch under- 
neath, far, far below but still underneath a barred 
tower window, probably the fair owner’s prison. 

Peasblossom got quite excited. Could it be he 
was to rescue another Princess? And, yes, on the 


98 PEASBLOSSOM, THE ADVENTURES OF 


handkerchief was written in red (with a pin dipped 
in the Princess’s blood), “Save me from the Giant.” 

“Well,” thought Peasblossom, “and so I will, that 
is. I’ll get somebody who will,” because the wise little 
fairy knew that in this case he was powerless to do it 
all himself. 

Just as he was thinking over ways and means, down 
fluttered a gorgeous parrot, all blazing scarlet, blues 
and greens, with a little bright orange to help out the 
effect. 

“I wonder if Prince Fortunate could do it,” said 
the fairy aloud, watching as he spoke the parrot set- 
tling himself on a branch overheard. 

“Why not try him?” said the parrot, which sur- 
prised Peasblossom so greatly that but for his wings 
he would have tumbled backward off the pine tree. 

“Who are you?” asked Peasblossom of the bird, as 
soon as he got breath to speak. 

“Pretty Polly, poor Polly, wants a cracker,” said 
the Parrot, cocking his head on one side and watch- 
ing the fairy with bright, beady eyes. 

“I do believe you’re the Princess’s parrot,” thought 
Peasblossom, because he had heard of the famous 
bird and its mistress, and in fact now knew the whole 
story. And aloud he said sadly, “But the Giant’s so 
powerful I fear we can’t get your Princess out ” 

“Stuff and nonsense!” snapped the parrot, who was 
angry because Peasblossom hadn’t given him a 
cracker or anything else to eat, and he flew back to 
his mistress, but not before the fairy had seized a 


THE PINETREE FAIRY, AND OTHERS 99 


long, dangling tail feather and so was wafted through 
the window and right into the presence of the pretty 
Princess herself. And you may guess that she was 
glad to see him, and soon had told her whole sorrow- 
ful story. 

Peasblossom bade her be of good cheer. 
know,” said he, “a rare, young Prince who for some 
time since has been pestering the Fairy Queen for 
the name of some Princess he might rescue. But the 
fact of the matter is, he is so particular about the 
kind of Princess he is to save, that the Queen hasn’t 
been able to furnish him with what he asks for. Now 
you,” went on the fairy, with a smile, “you are the 
very one.” 

The Princess blushed: for she suspected from 
Peasblossom’s manner that the Prince had asked for 
something quite special in charm and beauty on the 
part of the lady he was to save. 

“And the Prince?” said she in a low voice. 

“Everything you could wish for,” answered the 
fairy briskly. “But now I must be away on this new 
business. Don’t lose heart if you hear nothing for a 
time, since the Prince will have many dangers to 
overcome before he reaches this castle. Also the 
Giant is very powerful and the Fairy Queen will 
have to do her best to help your rescuer to manage 
him. But if I were you I should be all ready packed. 
You can’t take more than a couple of handkerchiefs, 
a tooth brush and such, in case your Prince arrives 
suddenly, and your flight is sudden also.” 


100 PEASBLOSSOM, THE ADVENTURES OF 


^‘Very well,” said the Princess, and she looked in- 
deed, with this new hope in her blue eyes, quite a 
different creature from the forlorn captive that Peas- 
blossom had seen first. 

With this picture of her therefore well in mind the 
kind little fairy sought the Prince, having first re- 
ceived permission to do so from his Queen. 

Prince Fortunate lived many leagues away, and 
when Peasblossom found him he was playing tennis. 
Being royal, he had, according to court custom, to 
play with a golden ball and a diamond-studded rac- 
quet, and if you have ever tried to do justice to the 
game with such as these you will understand how 
very hard the Prince had to try, in order to win his 
match. 

Win he did, however, and that shows you the kind 
of a young man he was. 

When Peasblossom told his story the royal youth 
was perfectly delighted. He insisted on starting at 
once, and only waited to snatch a bite of lunch, and 
write on the back of an envelope he chanced to have 
in his pocket, directions for the governing of his 
kingdom during his absence. This he tossed to the 
Lord High Chancellor, mounted his jet black 
charger and rode away, with Peasblossom perched 
on his shoulder and directing him how best to go. 
The little fairy was much too busy to stay long with 
the gallant youth, however, but before he left him he 
had presented him with a very exact road map show- 
ing the best way to the Giant’s castle and with a 


THE PINETREE FAIRY, AND OTHERS 101 


filbert (which seems to be a favourite fairy gift), 
which, said Peasblossom, was a present from the 
Fairy Queen, and which the Prince was to break at 
sight of the giant’s grim abode. 

I cannot tell you, because there isn’t time, all the 
adventures that befell the Prince on his journey. But 
this I can say, that in every one of them he showed 
the utmost bravery as well as good sense, and he was 
so very gracious and polite even to the monsters that 
barred his way, and which he was forced to kill, 
that it is a pleasure to write about him. And so, 
after a time, he arrived at the exact spot in the forest 
where Peasblossom had first seen the Princess’s par- 
rot and noted the Giant’s castle. 

According to directions, therefore, the Prince took 
from his traveller’s pouch the magic filbert and 
cracked it, and within he found a suit of pedlar’s 
clothes and a neat pedlar’s pack, together with direc- 
tions for their use, bearing the royal crest, typewrit- 
ten on the Fairy Queen’s own private typewriter and 
signed with her name. 

Being fairy clothes and a fairy pack, they could be 
stretched to suit the Prince’s needs, and he at once 
proceeded to don first the one and then the other. 

He also stained his fair skin with walnut juice, cut 
a branch of a tree for a staff, hid his sword under a 
pile of leaves, tied his good horse, and then going 
boldly to the Giant’s front door let fall the tremen- 
dous brass knocker. Now it luckily happened that 
the Giant was bored, and for once in a way was glad 


102 PEASBLOSSOM, THE ADVENTURES OF 


to see what the travelling pedlar (as he of course 
thought the Prince to be) had brought in his pack. 

So Fortunate was guided into the big hall of the 
Castle, where before a tremendous open fire, on cush- 
ions as big as a double-bedspread, sprawled the huge 
giant. 

^‘Well, my man, what have you got?” called he in 
a voice like thunder, as the disguised Prince bowed 
before him. “Be quick: an you please me, gold shall 
be yours. Should you fail, why, IVe a place for such 
pedlars as you in the dark dungeons of my castle.” 

“Poor Polly, pretty Polly, wants a cracker,” said 
a voice, and the Princess’s bird flew down from a 
rafter above, and lighted on the Prince’s shoulder as 
the disguised pedlar stooped to undo his pack. 

Fortunate had heard of the Princess’s parrot, so 
when he saw his chance, for the Giant was pleased 
and amazed and busy with the curious things the 
pack contained, the Prince slipped a note under the 
bird’s wing, and gave it a sweetmeat, hoping that 
it would seek the Princess’s room in order to eat the 
morsel in its own cage in peace, and so it chanced. 

And in the note the Prince bade the Princess make 
ready, for that very night, by fair means or foul, he 
would seek her out and ride with her to safety. 

So while the Prince below was doing his best, 
which, by the way, was a very good best, to amuse the 
Giant, the Princess above was packing her things in 
a silk handkerchief, curling her hair, making herself 
in all ways lovely for the Prince, and kissing the note 


THE PINETREE FAIRY, AND OTHERS 103 


and her parrot as well, for sheer light-heartedness. 

But the Prince was racking his brain for a way to 
spend the night in the Giant’s Castle, and at last he 
thought of one. 

Here is a curious cup, your high Mightiness,” 
said he to the Giant; ^ht fills of itself with the most 
delicious wine. Will not your Splendour deign to 
taste?” and he held toward the Giant a wonderful 
carved golden goblet, richly gemmed and filled to 
the brim with ruby wine. 

Now the Giant loved good eating and good drink- 
ing, but good drinking he loved best. So nothing 
loth, he raised the magic cup to his lips and drained 
it at one gulp. 

“Prince of pedlars are you,” said the Giant, “and 
your cup the King of all cups. For this you shall 
have gold, much gold,” and again he drank deep, for 
by the Fairy Queen’s magic again was the cup full 
to the brim. And hardly had he done so, when his 
eyes closed and he fell, snoring, before the fire, be- 
cause the wine held a powerful sleeping potion, 
which even a giant could not resist. 

You may believe that the Prince lost no time in 
beginning his search for the Princess, but the castle 
was so vast and held so many rambling corridors and 
rooms, that were it not again for the help of the par- 
rot, I fear me, the Giant would have awakened be- 
fore the quest was ended. As it was a flash of emer- 
ald and scarlet feather caught the Prince’s eye, and, 
having lured the bird by means of th^ daintier in hi§ 


104 PEASBLOSSOM, THE ADVENTURES OF 


pouch, he followed him swiftly as again the parrot 
sought his usual perch. 

And thus came he to the Princess. And when he 
saw her, he fell an his knees, and, looking into her 
lovely face, said, “Now I know why I was named 
Fortunate ” 

But the Princess smiled, for even the walnut juice 
and the pedlar’s clothing could not hide the fact that 
her Prince was good to look on and brave, and strong 
and kind, and when she bade him rise and gave him 
her white hand, not even the Parrot objected, and, 
perhaps because he was busy eating, made no remark 
whatever, nor said “Stuff and nonsense” even once, 
as was his way, we know, when Princes sued for 
favour. But of course at the moment there was little 
time for love-making, and the Prince, with a file pro- 
vided by Peasblossom for just this occasion, attacked 
the iron bars of the window. And the file being a 
magic file and very strong and he being under the 
eyes of his lady love, he soon had the bars sawed 
through. 

The next step was to get himself and the parrot 
and the Princess out the window and down the stout 
ivy that grew on the tower wall. And this was 
harder. And if the Princess had not happened to be 
unusually slender, fortunately having been without 
appetite while prisoner to the Giant, I doubt if For- 
tunate had been able to accomplish it. 

But they did all reach the ground in safety, yet 


THE PINETREE FAIRY, AND OTHERS 105 


while pausing to wipe his brow, the Prince heard 
alarming sounds coming from within the castle. 

Wherefore, seizing the Princess by the hand, he 
ran as fast as he could go, and somewhat faster than 
she could with comfort, through the dark forest 
toward the place where he had left his horse and his 
sword, the parrot clutching his shoulder, flapping its 
wings and crying shrill cries of excitement. 

And these same cries I fear again guided the 
wicked Giant, whose slumber had been short, and he 
came tearing after them. They had a good start, and 
luckily the Giant had slept in his stocking feet, or 
they would have been overtaken in a moment. Even 
as it was, the Prince had only time to get his sword 
and place the Princess behind him before the mon- 
ster was upon them. 

And if Fortunate had not been a wonder of brav- 
ery and agility, beside being the best swordsman 
of his time, this story would come right now to a sad 
ending. And even at that it might, if the parrot, 
more and more excited by the combat, and by the 
shrieks of the Princess, had not flown straight into 
the Giant’s face, which for the instant blinded him, 
and in that instant Fortunate ran his sword through 
the monster’s heart and he fell dead, taking with him 
in the crash most of the oak trees about them. 

But the Princess and the Prince stood safe at last 
beneath the pine tree. 

And said the Prince to his beautiful Princess, 


106 PEASBLOSSOM AND OTHERS 


‘Wilt ride with me to my kingdom there to be wed 
and crowned Queen?” 

But the Princess said nothing, but, blushing, bent 
her head, for was not her parrot, her wise, wise par- 
rot, screaming with joy, and saying what secretly she 
had hoped he would say, over and over again, not 
“Stuff and nonsense,” but, 

“Why not try him?” 


PEASBLOSSOM AND THE MAGIC PINE 
TREE 



« • 


• • 


V 



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S 





CHAPTER VII 


PEASBLOSSOM AND THE MAGIC PINE 
TREE 

P EASBLOSSOM, as you may know, was a 
pine tree fairy. He had been born in a pine 
tree, some of his adventures had to do with 
pine trees, and when he became a noble of 
Fairyland, his coat of arms was a golden Pine 
Tree rampant, with spreading branches and silver 
cones. 

It is not strange therefore that the Fairy Queen 
should turn to him when the great misfortune befell 
her country. I mean the stealing of the Magic Pine 
Tree, the one whose needles furnished all the needles 
of the fairy dress makers, and whose cones gave all 
the fuel used to keep the whole kingdom warm. 

Every single fairy felt the loss of this treasure, and 
every single one from the Queen down to her low- 
liest subject knew that before long they must go in 
rags, and shiver in the cold winter, because without 
needles how could new clothing be sewn, and with- 
out fuel to burn, how could fires be kept? Luckily 
this was summer time, but even at that, the Queen 

109 


110 PEASBLOSSOM, THE ADVENTURES OF 


had a hole in her stocking, which was not queenly to 
say the least. 

You may wonder why there were not needles and 
cones left over from last year’s supply, but it had 
been the custom of the fairies to simply take what 
they needed from the Magic Tree, and as soon as they 
were through with its use, being a magic tree, the 
needles and cones simply went back to where they 
belonged, the needles never rusting or wearing out 
or getting lost and the cones never burning up, as is 
the way with our earthly pine cones and needles. 

So there you are. The Queen sent immediately 
for Peasblossom to see what he could do about it. 
Her Majesty knew who the thief was; every fairy 
in the land knew that. The Black Witch of the 
Black Mountain had taken their treasure. She was 
the worst of all the witches, grey, or black like her- 
self, and she was as powerful with her dark magic as 
the Fairy Queen, in her way, with her white magic: 
the magic that never does anybody any harm but is 
meant for every one’s happiness. 

And the Black Witch had removed the stolen pine 
tree to the very heart of her Black Mountains, the 
entrance to which was guarded night and day by a 
three-headed Dragon, a ramping, roaring, plunging, 
kicking, fighting, biting monster, that breathed forth 
fire, and had the very worst disposition any Dragon 
ever had. 

The Black Witch had always envied the Fairy 
Queen her beautiful clothes. You can embroider 


THE PINETREE FAIRY, AND OTHERS 111 


like chain lightning with a magic pine needle, and 
anything sewn with it is sure to be becoming. As for 
fires, magic pine cones make the prettiest fires in the 
world, with rainbow-coloured flames that never do 
any damage and last as long as desired and no longer, 
and as the Witch was notably cold-blooded she was 
pleased enough, I promise you. 

The Queen, however, was in despair. Peasblos- 
som was her only hope, and a forlorn little hope at 
that, judging from his feelings. She gave him, of 
course, all the magic she had on hand, and with tear- 
dimmed eyes watched him depart. 

Peasblossom had a map of the Black Country and 
he knew from stories about it something of its looks, 
but he was hardly prepared for its vast and gloomy 
sweep. 

To begin with, everything was black. Such grass 
as there chanced to be was withered and blackened; 
there were no trees save a few whose blighted 
branches, tossing in the bitter wind, made one think 
of what might be left after a great forest fire — only 
that these twisted and blackened branches seemed 
full of wicked faces that mocked the traveller in this 
strange land. Sheer black rock, rising crag on crag, 
hemmed in the Witch’s domain, and leaden clouds 
rested on their topmost heights. Ravens, bats, owls, 
rats and snakes — these were its inhabitants. The 
Witch’s Castle was the gloomiest thing of all, built 
of black marble with iron doors and iron-barred win- 


112 PEASBLOSSOM, THE ADVENTURES OF 


dows, and in its courtyard but one lovely green thing, 
the stolen Pine Tree, and even that stood with droop- 
ing needles as though ashamed to be found in such 
a place. 

Peasblossom did not know how to get into the 
Witch’s Kingdom. His fairy wings were too deli- 
cate to carry him so far and he had to use his magic, 
stored up against the time of need. And this helped 
him to find the hiding place of the Witch’s sled, a 
wonderful affair, all of ebony, with twisted snake 
heads that hissed in a life-like manner as Peasblos- 
som got on board. 

Silken black reins guided these monsters, and they 
went like the wind, a long, fast, dangerous coast, 
from the topmost black mountain down to the cup- 
like valley where stood the Witch’s Castle. 

Several times the fairy was nearly thrown off, for 
the sled bucked and reared like an unruly horse, and 
once or twice it looked as though he would be dashed 
to pieces over a precipice, but he clung stoutly to 
the carved sides of this strange toboggan, and refused 
to be made into mincemeat. 

And so at last he found himself near the massive 
gate of the courtyard, and the three-headed Dragon 
within, who guarded it, began to sniff in an alarming 
manner, three violent sniffs to a time, one to each 
head, and to lash its horrid tail, and finally it burst 
out with a roar from all its three throats, and into a 
song which chilled the fairy’s blood: 


THE PINETREE FAIRY, AND OTHERS 113 


^^Fee, fi, fo, fum, 

A fairy's here from the Land of Sun. 

I'll catch him quick, I'll catch him straight, 

And every bone of his I'll break." 

And Peasblossom, trembling, had barely hidden 
himself and the sled, when out from the Castle hob- 
bled the old Witch. Luckily she had been having a 
nap, and as she only slept once in a hundred years, 
she was furious with the Dragon for having waked 
her. 

“Nonsense,” said she sharply, thumping the mon- 
ster with her crutch as she spoke; “there’s no fairy 
here. Stop that bellowing, and if you wake me up 
again it will be the worse for you.” 

The Dragon blinked its six red eyes with rage, but 
it shut its three mouths in sullen silence as com- 
manded, and the old Witch went back to her slum- 
bers. 

Peasblossom after a little peered out of his hidden 
corner, and there saw a marvellous sight, something 
to which sheer terror had made him blind before. 
Of course the stolen Pine Tree greeted his gaze, but 
that, welcome as it was, is not what amazed Peas- 
blossom, and it takes a good deal to surprise a fairy. 

This, then, is the sight that he saw. Seven black 
cats, each with a crown on its head, and all seated 
under the Pine Tree and sewing for dear life with 
the fairy pine needles, while about them hopped 
solemnly seven black crows, also crowned, who 


114 PEASBLOSSOM, THE ADVENTURES OF 


picked up the spools of silk that were dropped, and 
pulled out bastings with their strong beaks. 

Being a fairy, Peasblossom knew at once that these 
seven black cats were really seven princesses changed 
by the wicked Witch, and the seven black crows, 
seven princes, who had tried to rescue them, and 
whom the Witch had captured as well, and changed 
into their present shape. 

And as Peasblossom looked and looked, the seven 
cats began to purr; and they purred and they purred 
so sweetly and sleepily that they actually soothed the 
Dragon to slumber. 

As soon as the last of the monster’s six eyelids fell 
the cats began to sing, softly indeed, but quite clearly 
to the listening fairy: 

''Prisoners we of the old Black Witch; 

With pain we put in every stitch. 

Meow, meow, meow! 

Our suitors help with beak and claw, 

And dolefully crying, caw, caw, caw, 

With us to dreadful magic bow 
Meow, meow, meow! 

O fairy, rescue such as we. 

Who dwell beneath your lost Pine Tree 
Save us, and it returned shall be. 

Meow, meow, meow,^^ 

You may imagine Peasblossom’s feelings when he 
heard this charming song. What he did was to use 
up still more of his carefully guarded store of magic, 
and change himself into a brown moth, flutter 


THE PINETREE FAIRY, AND OTHERS 115 


through the bars of the great gate, right over the 
Dragon’s unsuspecting heads, and settle at last on 
the Pine Tree trunk, of which he was so much the 
colour that one would have had hard work to see 
him. 

Finding thus that he had friends where he had 
least expected to see them, he at once began to talk 
with the captive princesses and princes, and prom- 
ised heartily to do anything in his power to save 
them. 

“And we can tell you just what that will be,” said 
one of the prettiest of the black cats. 

“To-night, when we get our daily food, milk for 
us and corn for our friends the crows, we will go 
hungry, and give it all to the Dragon. He loves corn 
and milk, and the old Witch starves him; she says 
he eats too much with his three gaping jaws. So 
we’ll make a bargain; he shall have all our supper 
and in return he shall hide his heads in his paws and 
sleep till morning. His mistress scolded him for 
making a noise before, so he’ll ha^^e a good ex- 
cuse for keeping quiet.” 

“That is splendid,” said Peasblossom, “but what 
can I do?” 

“To-night,” said the second cat, who had blue eyes 
and an engaging manner, “the wicked Black Witch 
sleeps. Luckily for us, because she won’t as much 
as take a nap again for a hundred years. Two things 
only she fears — one is cobwebs; no spider is ever al- 
lowed in the Black Kingdom, and the other is run- 


116 PEASBLOSSOM, THE ADVENTURES OF 


ning water. With the first she may be bound, and 
the second she fears to cross.” 

“Yes, but,” said Peasblossom again, “where do I 
come in?” 

^^You,” said the third cat-princess, a graceful crea- 
ture with a beautiful waving tail, ^‘you have still 
some magic, we trust, left over from the store the 
Fairy Queen gave you.” 

“So,” interrupted the fourth black cat, who had 
been neatly washing her face with her paws, “you 
must turn yourself into a spider.” 

“Oh, no,” said the fairy, making a face, “not a 
horrid spider. I don’t mind being a butterfly or 
even a brown moth, like this, in the way of business, 
but not a spider — really I couldn’t.” 

“But you must,” cried the fifth cat-princess 
sharply — she was a splendid dignified animal — “you 
must, Peasblossom, or else ” 

Else,” went on the sixth cat-princess severely, 
“you won’t get your Pine Tree back, and we won’t 
any of us be saved ” 

“Caw, caw, caw,” cried all the crow Princes, for- 
getting, in their excitement, to use mortal language. 

And,” added the seventh and last Princess, pat- 
ting her crown into place with one deft paw, as she 
spoke, “if you do that for us, turn spider, enter the 
castle, bind the Witch with your silky web, why, we 
seven with tooth and claw will dig a trench in front 
of the Witch’s palace this very night, and our crows 
will help us with their strong beaks, and by dawn 


THE PINETREE FAIRY, AND OTHERS 117 


we’ll have the torrent that flows down the rocky wall 
nearby running swiftly between us and that evil old 
creature within.” 

And so Peasblossom, much as he hated the thought 
of being, even for a time, a horrid black spider, con- 
sented to the plan. 

And the change used up all but a little bit of his 
magic. The black cats and their attendant crows 
were as good as their word and set to work as soon 
as they had arranged their bargain with the Dragon. 

As for the fairy, he found himself in the Witch’s 
bed chamber, and the old Witch herself lay snoring 
on her couch hung with black velvet and embroi- 
dered with bats’ wings in silver. 

By her side were many garments, fashioned, Peas- 
blossom guessed, with the aid of the Pine Tree 
needles, and a beautiful many-coloured fire leaped 
and danced in the black stone fire place, a fire made 
from the Pine Tree’s cones. 

It made the fairy very angry, and he crawled along, 
managing his eight legs rather awkwardly, but for 
all that getting nearer and nearer the Witch every 
instant. 

And when he reached her he began at once to 
work, skilfully binding her feet with their lizard 
skin shoes together, all with cobweb, and doing as 
much as he might to get the silken strands about her 
lean and knotted wrists. 

Of course this was dangerous work, for did she 
awake the Witch would crush him in an instant, and 


118 PEASBLOSSOM, THE ADVENTURES OF 


her slumbers seemed uneasy. She almost caught him 
as it was in her tossing from side to side on her velvet 
couch, and her mutterings frightened the fairy 
sorely, but he with great courage went on with his 
work, which, having at last finished, he ended by 
letting himself out the window by a single thread 
(in some ways it’s a real advantage to be a spider), 
and escaped from the Castle, seeing with joy at the 
same time that running water was foaming and toss- 
ing its swift way about the place, in the trench made 
by the seven Princesses and their seven Princes. 

Peasblossom with a pinch of magic powder, now 
wofully low in his pouch, turned himself from a 
spider to a fairy again, and mighty glad to do it. 

Then while the black enchanted cats and the black 
enchanted crows slowly circled about him, he sought 
the magic Pine Tree, and threw upon it his very 
last bit of magic powder, singing as he did so the fol- 
lowing rhyme: 

*^Pine Tree, dear Pine Tree, 

Spread your strong branches; 

Fly with me. 

Fly so fast and fly so far 

To your own fairyland, where your good friends 
are, 

W e miss your needles, and miss your cones 
To sew up our clothes and warm our homes. 

All of my magic I use upon thee; 

Come quickly, come, my dear Pine Tree, 


THE PINETREE FAIRY, AND OTHERS 119 


Thus Peasblossom sang, and at the first word of 
the song, the Pine Tree shook its needles and cones 
together, trembling with joy, its big trunk bent for- 
ward, and at the last words of the magic chant it 
came bodily out of its place in the Witch’s court- 
yard, and fell down at the fairy’s feet. 

The seven black cats held up their paws in aston- 
ishment and delight, and the seven black crows 
cawed aloud their joyous surprise, but, alas! their 
pleasure was soon changed to fear, for the old Witch 
had been awakened by the Pine Tree’s fall and hob- 
bled to the door of her palace. Fortunately her cob- 
web bands held her from getting about at more than 
a snail’s pace. 

She was frantic with rage, and when she saw Peas- 
blossom she tried to shake her fist at him but could 
not, because the cobweb held her arms to her sides. 

The fairy, however, knew she was still dangerous, 
and with the help of the seven black cats, and their 
faithful crows, he tore into strips the embroidered 
cloak of the Witch on which they had been working, 
bound the Pine Tree fast with the strips to the 
Witch’s own sled, despite the rearing and hissing of 
the snakes, and told the captive Princesses and 
Princes to get aboard as quickly as possible. This 
they did, and Peasblossom jumped on last, and it 
was a tight fit, I can tell you. Try putting seven 
black cats and seven black crows, and one fairy, on 
even a good-sized sled, and see for yourself. 

The old Witch foamed at the mouth with rage and 


120 PEASBLOSSOM, THE ADVENTURES OF 


her anger was so great that she succeeded in bursting 
her cobweb chains. 

The snakes reared and plunged, but being a magic 
sled, it could coast up hill as rapidly as it could down, 
and the enchanted black cats scratched the snakes 
with their sharp claws, the crows pecked at them 
with their beaks, and Peasblossom twisted their tails, 
till, much against their will, they were forced to go 
up the steep mountain side; the magic Pine Tree tied 
securely to the back of the sled with the strips of the 
Witch’s cloak, while the Dragon, full of good milk 
and corn, and still angry with its mistress, pretended 
not to notice these doings and only blinked one sleepy 
red eye as the Pine Tree was dragged to its place, 
right under the monster’s noses. 

As for the Black Witch herself, her anger got the 
best of her. Seeing her prisoners escape, and her 
stolen treasure carried off by the bold Peasblossom, 
was too much. She fell down in a fit and right into 
the running water, where she floundered about, chok- 
ing and sputtering, while the swift current carried 
her swiftly and surely down stream and away. 

But the magic sled continued its upward course, 
and at last reached the border land of the Black 
Country, and never did a more thankful, weary, 
coasting party disembark. 

A step across to Fairyland and they were free! 

The seven black cats became immediately seven 
beautiful Princesses, the seven black crows, seven 
handsome Princes, and Peasblossom, well, Peasblos- 


THE PINETREE FAIRY, AND OTHERS 121 


som looked just the same, only that his small fairy 
face shone with delight and satisfaction. 

By his orders the seven stalwart Princes took the 
magic Pine Tree on their shoulders, the seven Prin- 
cesses following close beside, while Peasblossom led 
the way. 

And they had not gone far before they met a party 
of fairy boy scouts, sent by the Queen, and after that 
so many rejoicing fairies, that the main street of the 
Kingdom leading to the Royal Palace was almost 
blocked with the surging, cheering crowd. 

As for Peasblossom, he was carried on the shoul- 
ders of his admiring friends right into the Queen’s 
presence to receive the most grateful thanks that ever 
Fairy Queen gave a subject. 

The seven Princesses and Princes had many costly 
gifts given them, and were set safe on the road to 
their respective kingdoms. 

The magic Pine Tree was put back into its right- 
ful place with song and dancing; every fairy in the 
Kingdom ordered a new costume to celebrate its 
return; and the biggest bonfire of years was built 
from its cones in the main courtyard of the Queen’s 
Palace. 

And Peasblossom, well, Pleasblossom was so full 
of joy he nearly burst, and in fact he did break out 
of his tight-fitting green jerkin so that the first magic 
pine needle was used, as was right and fitting, in his 
behalf. 

But the old Black Witch floated down the stream 


122 PEASBLOSSOM AND OTHERS 


and was never heard of again, and her three-headed 
Dragon, having all her store of rich food and drink 
quite to himself, was not in the least sorry. 

Nor were the seven Princesses and their Princes 
sorry either, for these, having safely reached their 
own kingdoms, at once got married, and lived hap- 
pily forever after. 


PEASBLOSSOM, TOMMY AND TINA 



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CHAPTER VIII 


PEASBLOSSOM, TOMMY AND TINA 

N OW, in some ways, I think this story is the 
m.ost remarkable of any that I have yet 
told you, and it is about two children, 
mostly, and a little about Peasblossom, 
who was their friend in their time of great need. 

Thomas and Thomasina were the children’s 
names, but they were never called this, unless they 
had been particularly naughty. They were often a 
little naughty, but not many times so bad that they 
were ever spoken to as anything but Tommy and 
Tina. 

Tommy was a sturdy lad with bright red hair, a 
snub nose, a wide pleasant mouth and many golden 
freckles. Tina was small, fat, round as a rubber ball 
almost, and she had big blue eyes, yellow curls, and 
a jolly little turn-up nose and pretty little red rosebud 
mouth. She had also several very nice dimples that 
played a kind of game of hide and seek in a very 
pleasant manner. 

Tommy loved Tina and ordered her about a good 
deal, and Tina thought Tommy the handsomest 
125 


126 PEASBLOSSOM, THE ADVENTURES OF 


(which he certainly wasn’t), bravest, best brother a 
little girl ever had. 

They both had a very nice mother, and a very, 
very nice old grandmother who told them many fairy 
tales. They had also a little white cottage with green 
blinds, three pots of red geraniums and a black and 
white cat. 

They had as well a cousin Lucy, and I’m sorry to 
say they didn’t much care to play with her, though 
she was very pretty and well behaved, and so neat 
that she had never, never, even once, been known to 
get a spot on her pinafore. 

Their nice mother said she wished her children 
could be more like their good little cousin Lucy, who 
was never a trouble to anybody, and who always re- 
membered to say ‘^please” and “thank you,” and who 
never, never tore her clothes (Tina hung her 
head), or climbed trees or made such a noise 
(Tommy scowled), that you couldn’t even think. 

But the nice, nice old grandmother said that 
cousin Lucy was, of course, a very pretty behaved 
child, but she really liked little fat girls best who 
gurgled, instead of giggled, and red-haired boys who 
kept a body busy with darning their stockings, but 
never forgot to bring their old grandmother her 
chair pillow the first thing every morning. 

However, the day we mean to tell you about was 
midsummer night’s eve, the very magic day of the 
whole long year, and the day that the fairies are most 
likely to be seen by mortals. 


THE PINETREE FAIRY, AND OTHERS 127 


Tommy and Tina were to go and spend this glori- 
ous, sunshiny, f ragrant-winded day with their cousin 
Lucy, and I fear that neither of them hurried along 
the forest path that led to cousin Lucy’s home. 

Tina never hurried anywhere, she was too fat, but 
Tommy raced about, playing that he was a wild 
beast and making Tina gurgle with his roars, or sud- 
denly turning himself into a mighty hunter, and bid- 
ding Tina sternly not to make a noise. 

And it was while he was a hunter that the thing 
happened which made this particular day so won- 
derful. He caught a fairy! 

At first he thought it was only a butterfly, a grey 
and brown butterfly with scarlet on its wings. But 
it wasn’t — it was a fairy, and such a fairy! No less, 
though Tommy couldn’t know that, no less a per- 
sonage than the aged chancellor of the Fairy Queen 
herself. 

He was an absent-minded old gentleman, and for- 
getting all about midsummer’s eve, he was ambling 
through the forest, his spectacles up on his forehead, 
hands clasped behind him, and his fairy brain busy 
with anything but earthly children. In fact, he was 
trying to account for tuppence ha’penny, that the 
Lord High Treasurer said must be found, before 
he could get the royal account books straightened 
out, when Tommy caught him and brought him 
over to show to Tina, and he was quite as much 
surprised as were the two children. 

^‘Bless my stars and garters!” he kept saying, and 


128 PEASBLOSSOM, THE ADVENTURES OF 


that showed, of course, that he was very much upset 
by his capture. 

“Why, he’s a fairy,” said Tina, bouncing up and 
down with joy. “Just like grandmother told us 
about,” cried Tommy, holding the Lord High Chan- 
cellor kindly but firmly by both wings, while the 
Lord High Chancellor kicked feebly in an undigni- 
fied manner in the hope of getting his liberty. 

“Whatever will we do with him?” asked Tina. 

Tommy wrinkled up his forehead and thought 
hard. 

“I know,” he said, giving a joyous, hop-skip as 
he spoke, “we’ll make him take us to Fairyland!” 

“Bless my stars and garters!” gasped the Lord 
High Chancellor. 

“But cousin Lucy,” said Tina, “you know mother 
said we were to spend the day there ” 

“Bother cousin Lucy,” answered Tommy, with- 
out a moment’s hesitation ; “mother won’t mind ; she 
never guessed we’d get a good chance to go to Fairy- 
land instead, did she?” 

“N-no,” said Tina. 

“And only think what we’ll have to tell grand- 
mother,” said Tommy. 

“Y-yes,” said Tina. 

And so it was settled. Of course, the Lord High 
Chancellor tried to unsettle it, but he just couldn’t, 
and at last, in order to get his freedom, he was forced 
to consent. 

“Take hold of my belt, you. Tommy, and you. 


THE PINETREE FAIRY, AND OTHERS 129 


Tina,” said he, “and shut your eyes. And remem- 
ber, it’s your own doings, and you must take the 
consequences.” 

This frightened Tina, but did not trouble her 
brother, and as she could not bear to let him go with- 
out her, she screwed her eyes up very tight and held 
on to the fairy as directed. 

As for Tommy, he was ready and waiting. So in 
another five seconds, so swiftly does fairy magic 
work, they were wafted up and away and over the 
borderland, and with a slight jerk (I fear the Lord 
High Chancellor was in something of a temper) 
they were set on their feet in Fairyland. 

“You’ve got to see the Queen, of course,” said 
their unwilling conductor, who somehow on his 
native soil seemed all at once an important person- 
age, just as the two children felt suddenly rather 
small and weak. “And here she is,” he added, and 
they saw their guide go forward and kneel before 
a very beautiful little lady, dressed in shimmering 
satin, embroidered with pearls, whose beautiful 
crown (though it was really only her everyday one) 
proclaimed her Queen. 

Tommy and Tina didn’t know exactly what to do, 
because they had never met any kind of a Queen 
before, and, of course, a Fairy Queen is lots more 
important than any other kind. 

This one didn’t look over-pleased, but she was 
really more vexed with her Lord High Chancellor 


130 PEASBLOSSOM, THE ADVENTURES OF 


for getting himself into such a fix than with the two 
children. 

‘‘Now, youVe here, she said to them, not un- 
kindly, “we must just make the best of it, but it’s 
going to be some work to feed you, even for a day.” 
She clapped her hands, and a fairy page at once 
appeared and bowed low. “Tell the cooks in my 
kitchen to make ready six dozen loaves of bread, 
and the pantry women to open two dozen pots of 
strawberry jam,” said she. “Tell the Head Bee 
Keeper I want at once fifteen full honey pots made 
ready, and tell my dairymen to bring in as much 
extra milk and as many pats of butter as would 
serve to furnish the royal household for a week.” 
The page again bowed low and retired, but the 
Queen called after him, “And send Peasblossom 
to me immediately.” And that was how Tommy 
and Tina first met their good fairy friend. 

“Won’t it be fun eating fairy bread and jam?” 
whispered Tina to her brother, but Tommy nudged 
her to look quickly at the coming fairy, for Peas- 
blossom had lost no time in obeying the royal sum- 
mons. And he made a very attractive picture as he 
knelt before his Queen in his green jerkin, emerald- 
trimmed, with golden pine trees and silver cones 
embroidered on his hanging sleeves; his breeches 
were green also, and his shoes had rosettes of emer- 
ald and heels of silver. He had a sword with a 
jewelled hilt by his side, and his cap had two beau- 
tiful horns finished with knobs that glowed and 



THE 

AND 


PRINCE WAS AS 
VAINEST OF HIS 


PROUD AND AS VAIN AS THE PROUDEST 
OWN PEACOCKS. 




THE PINETREE FAIRY, AND OTHERS 131 


glowed, softly or brilliantly, as he desired, with the 
flutter of the fairy’s rainbow wings. 

“Tommy and Tina here,” said the Queen (the 
children were so glad she didn’t say “Thomas and 
Thomasina”). “These two,” said she, “have come 
to spend the day in Fairyland. I want you to put 
them in Dame Daffodil’s charge. They must be 
careful and not tread with their big mortal’s feet 
our fairy dancing rings, and they must not have too 
powerful magic to play with for fear of hurting 
themselves or us. I have arranged for luncheon for 
them, and at supper time you, Peasblossom, must 
just see they get back safely to the forest near their 
home, where that foolish old Lord Chancellor 
found them.” 

Peasblossom said that he would see to it. And 
bidding Tommy and Tina follow, he led the way 
to Dame Daffodil’s dwelling. 

I wish you could have been with them to have 
seen Fairyland as they saw it on that most marvel- 
lous walk. 

When they themselves tried to tell about it they 
could only say it was a place of sunshine, flowers, 
fountains, green turf and such lovely little houses, 
mostly brown with thatched roofs and tiny gardens. 
Of course, the grand folk had grand houses, palaces 
of marble with towers and roofs of silver, and grand 
gardens full of pink, red and white roses and all 
manner of wonderful plants. 


132 PEASBLOSSOM, THE ADVENTURES OF 


The fairies themselves were busy, friendly folk, 
and the children did not fear them. 

As for Peasblossom, they snuggled up to him, for 
all his grandeur, feeling as though they had known 
him all their lives. 

He led them to one of the smallest but prettiest 
of fairy cottages, and within they were warmly wel- 
comed by Dame Daffodil, who wore a white cap and 
kerchief, and white apron over her plain grey gown, 
much as their dear grandmother did at home. 

Her garden was full of daffodils, and that they 
were of pure gold did not seem to take away their 
charm. 

Dame Daffodil gave them lunch on such little 
bits of plates, but my! such delicious bread and 
butter, jam and honey as they had never eaten be- 
fore, and such milk, out of cups hardly bigger than 
thimbles, but the very largest that could be found 
in all Fairyland. 

Then she brought out a box of magic, and Tommy 
and Tina had such fun with it. 

There was a case of little bottles filled with dif- 
ferent kinds of powder. The lavender kind made 
one invisible till one was sprinkled with the yellow 
powder. Think of the game of hide and seek one 
might have with such magic. And then there was 
a rose powder that turned one into a flower, and 
green powder that changed one into a butterfly, and 
a very, very little black powder that made you, for 
about five minutes, into the likeness of a toad or a 


THE PINETREE FAIRY, AND OTHERS 133 


spider or a bat. My! How Tina screamed when 
Tommy came hopping over toward her with his 
toad’s eyes sparkling with mischief. 

Then there was a small box of seeds that took 
root, branched and flowered before your eyes all 
in a minute, and some wonderful toys, hobby horses 
that really galloped about Dame Daffodil’s garden 
with Tommy and Tina clinging to their dappled 
backs, and mechanical birds that hopped and sang, 
and the dearest dolls’ tea-set, with which you could 
have a make-believe tea-party that turned real at 
your wish. 

No wonder the children had a good time, and 
perhaps small wonder that Dame Daffodil left them 
to play at will in her garden and went back into her 
cottage to finish her knitting. But it was a mistake 
for all that. It might have done with Tina, who 
would have contentedly sat there playing till Peas- 
blossom came for her to go home, but it did not do 
with Tommy, who desired, now that he really was in 
Fairyland, to explore every corner of it. Poor, fat, 
little Tina wouldn’t, of course, let him go alone, so 
that was how it happened that when Dame Daffo- 
dil’s back was turned they crept out of her garden 
and started on further adventures. 

They saw several things that the Fairy Queen 
would not have wished any mortal eye to see, and 
the last thing that Tommy saw was a hole in a high 
prickly hedge, a hedge evidently intended to keep 
people in where they belonged. 


134 PEASBLOSSOM, THE ADVENTURES OF 


Tommy, being the kind of boy he was, at once 
decided to get out, and by much wriggling suc- 
ceeded in making his way through the hole. Poor 
Tina he pulled and lugged after him. She was such 
a tight fit that it looked as though she would have 
to stay there forever. But at last, somewhat 
scratched, and with her pinafore torn, she did man- 
age it, leaving her best blue hair ribbon behind her. 

Now, though they did not know it, they were out 
of Fairyland, and this was much the worst of the 
matter, though of course of this, too, they were 
ignorant. They were in Ogre-land. 

Now Ogre-land is a very poor place for children 
to be, and a most dangerous place for such a fat 
little child as Tina. Her brother, however, not 
thinking of any harm, started off at a brisk pace 
toward a great castle that stood on a hilltop near. 
And poor Tina, though she did not at all care for 
the adventure, and longed to be back with her magic 
tea-set, obediently trotted after as fast as her small 
fat legs could carry her. 

And alas! It was an Ogre’s Castle, and the Ogre 
himself was seated on the doorstep and saw them 
coming. 

He was a great, horrid, black-haired, red-eyed, 
sharp-toothed Ogre, and he was always hungry. 

When he saw Tommy he rubbed his hands together 
with glee, but when he saw Tina, his mouth fairly 
watered, and he called to his Cook to make ready 


THE PINETREE FAIRY, AND OTHERS 135 


the big iron pot that swung over the fire in his 
kitchen. 

And now I must tell you what had happened in 
Fairyland. Dame Daffodil had looked out of the 
window, having finished her knitting, and saw no 
children. At first she thought they were just amus- 
ing themselves with the invisible powder, and she 
called: “Tommy! Tina!” But nobody answered. 

Then out she came quickly only to see that the in- 
visible powder was quite used up, and that footsteps 
in the soft earth going away from the garden showed 
plainly that her guests had departed. She was ter- 
ribly frightened and ran crying to the Fairy Queen, 
and, wiping her eyes on her white apron, sobbed out 
her story. 

The Queen, of course, was angry, but she knew 
there was no time for scolding or punishment. 

She had the fairy alarm bell rung at once and 
sent out her scouts to search for the missing pair. 
Peasblossom headed the party, and their worst fears 
were fulfilled when he saw the gap in the hedge 
with a shred of Tina’s pinafore hanging on one of 
the thorns. 

Peasblossom saw also tracks made by the children, 
and heading straight toward the Ogre’s Castle, and 
his heart sank. He knew, however, that he must do 
his best, and he sent back word to the Queen that 
he was going to try and save Tommy and Tina, then 
he flew through the hole in the thicket and was 
himself in Ogre-land. 


136 PEASBLOSSOM, THE ADVENTURES OF 


Meanwhile, the children, nothing doubting, be- 
cause everybody had always been most kind to them, 
trudged on toward the Castle. 

Tina thought the big man sitting on its step, and 
fondling his spiked club, the ugliest person she had 
ever seen, but Tommy noted that he smiled at them, 
though it wasn’t a pretty smile, and advanced to 
meet them with beckoning jestures of welcome. 

Ogre-land wasn’t pretty and bright like Fairyland. 
All the country looked bleak and gloomy, and the 
castle of grey rock, gloomiest of all. The only 
cheerful thing about it was a big poultry yard, and 
Tina saw quite a nice and very big White Goose 
there sunning herself in the sun. She was, by the 
way, the goose that laid the golden egg, and so was 
much prized by the Ogre, who next to good eating 
loved yellow gold. 

But now the monster was right upon them, and 
the nearer he got the less Tommy and Tina liked 
his looks, and Tommy, like the brave boy he was, 
got in front of his sister. 

^‘My dear children, how glad I am to see you,” 
said the Ogre, trying in vain to make his hoarse 
voice sweet. “Come right into my Castle; supper 
will soon be ready,” and he smiled such a horrid 
smile that it made the boy’s heart go right down 
into his boots. All of a sudden he wished no more 
adventures, but to get back through the gap in the 
hedge and into safe, pretty Fairyland as soon as ever 
he could, and take Tina with him. 


THE PINETREE FAIRY, AND OTHERS 137 


But the Ogre was getting nearer. 

Tommy bowed politely and answered with haste: 

“No, thank you, we don’t care for any supper ” 

“Oh, but I do,” roared the Ogre, not caring now 
to be polite since he felt he had the children, “and 
your sweet little sister there will do finely for des- 
sert and you yourself I shall make into soup.” 

“Oh,” wailed Tina, “I don’t want to be dessert,” 
but Tommy shut his mouth firmly, and just as the 
Ogre pounced upon them, with outstretched, hairy 
hands, what do you think he did? 

Why, just butted him as hard as ever he could 
in the stomach, the last thing the Ogre expected, 
and knocked all the wind out of him. 

For a moment the monster lay on his back, kick- 
ing and gasping, while Tommy, seizing Tina by the 
hand, ran down into the poultry yard (it was much 
too far to try to reach Fairyland), and he hoped to 
find some hiding place nearer for himself and his 
sister. 

And very fortunately, as I have said, the Goose 
who laid the golden eggs was sitting there in the 
sun. She had seen the whole thing, and knew the 
wicked Ogre’s ways with children all too well. So 
she lifted up her great white wings and snuggled 
them up close to her warm body, and then, half-clos- 
ing her eyes, awaited the monster. 

Down he plunged into the poultry yard still 
breathing hard from the blow Tommy’s round hard 
head had given him, and muttering terrible threats 


138 PEASBLOSSOM, THE ADVENTURES OF 


of vengeance. He hadn’t seen where the children 
had gone, though he knew it was somewhere near, 
and the white feathers of the Goose quite hid them 
as they lay trembling against her soft breast. 

‘‘Don’t go tearing about that way. Ogre,” said the 
White Goose in a faint voice, “you make me nervous, 
and you know if I get upset I shan’t lay any golden 
egg for you.” 

“Well,” said the Ogre, trying to be calm, because 
this threat frightened him. “Have you seen any 
children?” 

“Children?” asked White Goose, rolling her 
eyes, “of course, I’ve seen some children. They were 
just talking with you, weren’t they? Where did 
they go, may I ask? And by the way. Ogre, why 
did you fall down on your back so suddenly just 
now?” 

The Ogre gritted his teeth with rage. 

“If it weren’t for your golden eggs I’d wring your 
neck,” said he. 

“How rude and unkind,” exclaimed the White 
Goose, closing her eyes indifferently. 

And at that the Ogre walked off in a fury, seeking 
everywhere for his prey, and getting angrier every 
moment. But the White Goose pretended to go to 
sleep. 

And perhaps all would have gone well had not 
the glint of a shoe-buckle caught the monster’s eye. 
Alas, it was on Tina’s shoe, which stuck out the 
least little bit from the Goose’s white feathers. And 


THE PINETREE FAIRY, AND OTHERS 139 

in a moment she was snatched up by the monster, 
and the next he held Tommy, who had gone bravely 
to the rescue. 

And, oh, how sad a story this would be were it 
not for Peasblossom, who came just in the nick of 
time. 

He flew behind the Ogre and stuck his sword into 
him. The monster thought it was a mosquito that 
had stung him, and he let go of Tommy and held 
both the children with one hand, so that he might 
have the other free to kill the offending insect. 

In went the sword again and the monster slapped 
about wildly. And just then up flew the White Goose 
and banged him hard in the face with her strong 
wings. 

Peasblossom got in another good sting, and 
Tommy and Tina struggled wildly; the White Goose 
hissed and buffeted the Ogre, going this time straight 
for the monster’s eyes. The Ogre, without mean- 
ing to do so, loosed his hold just a little, but enough 
for Tommy, who gave a valiant kick and pulled 
himself free and Tina after him. 

And without a moment’s delay the children 
raced down the hill to the gap in the hedge that 
meant safety and Fairyland. 

The Ogre, of course, started after them, but Peas- 
blossom kept busy with his sword, and the White 
Goose blinded him with her strong wings, yet both 
managed to escape the monster’s wild blows. 

And in the end they all got to the hedge; the 


140 PEASBLOSSOM, THE ADVENTURES OF 


White Goose flew over, Peasblossom and the chil- 
dren flew through the gap, and the Ogre, bruised 
and much sword-pricked, was left helpless behind. 

And that is the story of Peasblossom, Tommy and 
Tina. 

As for the White Goose, she took such a fancy 
to the children she had helped to save that she de- 
cided to leave Fairyland with them and go and dwell 
in their nice mother’s cottage with their nice, nice 
grandmother and all the family. 

And the Queen making no objection, this she did. 

So that was how Tommy and Tina and a beautiful 
strange White Goose came in to their own little 
home at supper time that very evening, and mighty 
glad to be there. 

And they told their dear mother and dear, dear 
grandmother all about their adventures, and their 
dear mother clasped them tight in her arms, and 
their dear, dear grandmother kissed them again and 
again. 

And the White Goose, well, the White Goose had 
all the loving care in the world, and the best of 
everything, and liked the white and green cottage 
with its three red geraniums, and even its black and 
white cat, much better than the splendour of the 
Ogre’s poultry yard. 

And she laid a golden egg for them every day, 
so Tommy and Tina and their very nice mother 
and their very, very nice grandmother could never 
be hungry or cold or ragged in all their lives. 


THE PINETREE FAIRY, AND OTHERS 141 


But the Fairy Queen told Peasblossom privately 
she was as happy as anybody to get that lively boy 
and his fat little sister safely home and out of Fairy- 
land. “For,” said she, “who knows what they might 
have done next?” 







. V 


i ' ^ 

I ’ 


4 





•K 





V 



PEASBLOSSOM AND THE THREE QUEENS 






CHAPTER IX 


PEASBLOSSOM AND THE THREE 
QUEENS 

T he Queen of the Fairies was giving a 
tea party, and a very important party it 
was, because three Queens besides herself 
were coming to it. 

Peasblossom had ransacked the royal gardens 
from end to end for flowers, and the Head Butler 
had driven everybody under him nearly wild by his 
fear that all would not be to the royal liking. The 
Queen’s very best tea-set had been scoured till you 
could see your face in it, and there was to be, besides, 
the very best tea with plenty of cream and sugar, 
two new kinds of muffins, one new kind of toast, 
nut cake, plum cake, plain cake, frosted cake and 
strawberry, blackberry and raspberry jam. 

The Queen of Rivers, Fountains and Brooks, the 
Queen of the Mist, as she desired to be called, was 
to be one guest. Peasblossom thought she would 
like watermelon, but the Head Butler said: “No, 
they didn’t use it for teas.” 

The second royal personage was the Queen of the 
Winds, and the third, the Snow Queen. Again^ 

^5 


146 PEASBLOSSOM, THE ADVENTURES OF 


Peasblossom suggested ice cream as being likely to 
please the lady from the North Pole, but again the 
Head Butler shook his head in disapproval. 

One royalty only was not invited (a royal lady 
who had called for red peppers at the last tea party, 
Peasblossom remembered), and this was the Fire 
Queen. She never got on well with either the Snow 
Queen or the Queen of the Mists, and she had had 
trouble with the Queen of the Winds about a set of 
fire opals, so the Fairy Queen thought it best to 
leave her out of this particular affair. 

And that was how the trouble began. 

For the Fire Queen, who had a hot temper any- 
way, was very, very angry, and vowed she would 
be revenged, and she sent for the three most mis- 
chievous elves in her dominions, who were called 
Phosphorus, Brimstone and Sulphur, and gave them 
her orders. 

And what these were, you shall soon know. But 
first I must tell you a little about the tea party, and 
how the guests looked. 

The Snow Queen came in ermine robes, and she 
glittered with diamonds like one of her own icicles 
in the sun. Her hair was pure white, and waved 
about her, and her eyes were coldly blue. 

The Queen of the Winds had long black hair 
that whipped itself about her graceful form. She 
had dark, mysterious eyes, and she was dressed in 
robes of changeable silk that continually whispered 
and fluttered, as though little baby winds were con- 


THE PINETREE FAIRY, AND OTHERS 147 


stantly pulling at the hem of her garments. Her 
crown was of changing opals, the same that the 
Fire Queen claimed, but which their present owner 
said were stones that changed not as the fire flamed, 
but as the winds blew. 

The Queen of the Mists was all in grey; she had 
grey eyes, and rippling grey hair with silvery lights 
in it. Her robes were sewn thickly with pearls, and 
the only colour she wore was a rainbow sash. 

At the Queen of the Fairies’ earnest wish that her 
guests should make themselves comfortable, the three 
royal ladies hung their three crowns, one of dia- 
monds, one of opals, and one of pearls, each on the 
back of their respective throne-chairs, which were 
drawn snugly up to the tea-table, and this was a great 
mistake. 

I wonder if you can guess why. But in any case 
I shall tell you. Phosphorus, Brimstone and Sul- 
phur by their Mistress’s express orders, had been 
lurking unobserved beneath the tea-table. It had a 
long embroidered tea-cloth on it, which quite hid 
them from view. And these naughty fire elves 
watched their chance, and when the Queen of the 
Mists in her plaintive tones was telling the others 
the very latest scandal, about the Black Witch, of 
the Black Mountain, the three slipped out unob- 
served, and 


STOLE THE THREE CROWNS. 


148 PEASBLOSSOM, THE ADVENTURES OF 


Of course, their wicked action was discovered. 
But, alas, too late! The Fire Queen had arranged 
to have her fastest fire chariot waiting, and in it 
the elves had bestowed themselves with their plun- 
der and away they went in the twinkling of an eye, 
leaving all Fairyland in an uproar behind them. 

You can imagine how the three Queens felt. What 
is a Queen without a crown, anyhow? 

And the Fairy Queen! Well, she felt in some 
ways worst of anybody, because it was a little her 
fault after all that her guests had been robbed. At 
any rate, it had happened while at her tea party. 
And she went to Peasblossom, as usual, to tell him 
he just must get those three crowns back again. 

When the little fairy heard this he wished him- 
self back in the Pine Tree nest again, just a very 
ordinary little person with no special troubles, none 
at least like this very great trouble of obeying the 
Queen at peril of his fairy life and limb. 

The Fire Queen was not likely to stop at any- 
thing. How could a little fairy hope to defy her 
and make her restore her ill-gotten goods? Why! 
his shining wings would be shrivelled up by one 
fiery glance of her angry eyes, and her elves would 
like nothing better than leave to torment him. 

So, for once, Peasblossom hung back a little, and 
the three Queens, seeing it, all began to talk at once. 

“Do it; that’s a good fellow,” urged the Wind 
Queen briskly. “If you succeed I’ll give you an 
iEolian harp to hang outside your door, and my 


THE PINETREE FAIRY, AND OTHERS 149 


winds shall play on it, at your desire, sweeter music 
than aught in Fairyland.” 

“And I,” sobbed the Mist Queen, “will give you 
a fountain that shall toss pearls into your lap at 
your bidding.” 

“And I,” broke in the Queen of the Snows, “I 
will give you my pet polar bear with a silver collar, 
who is trained to stand guard so that none shall pass 
without your consent, and on which you may ride 
as fast and as far as ever you please.” 

“Ladies! ladies!” cried Peasblossom, but the 
Queen of the Fairies interrupted him: 

“Of course,” said she, “he will go, and I for one 
bid him never darken the doors of my kingdom till 
he bring with him your stolen property.” 

“Exiled from home,” thought the poor fairy, “but, 
of course, there is nothing for it but to obey.” 

So, without the least idea of how to do it, he 
started on his mission. He knew he could count on 
such help as they could give, from the three Queens, 
and on any possible aid from his own mistress. But 
he didn’t know what to ask for. He generally had 
some plan, but now his fairy brain was empty. For- 
tunately, a spiteful note from the Fire Queen to his 
own royal mistress (it was written in red ink on 
orange-colored paper) told him at least where the 
crowns had been concealed. 

But the news was most disheartening. 

The plunder, locked in a crystal box, had been 
lowered into the heart of a volcano, a fire mountain, 


150 PEASBLOSSOM, THE ADVENTURES OF 


in the middle of the Fire Queen’s kingdom, a ter- 
rible mountain that spurted flame and black smoke 
and burning cinders, from morn till night, and from 
night till morn again. 

Peasblossom went to the three Queens and told 
them about it, and asked them at once to give him 
threefold power over winds, and water, and snow, 
and see what he could do with it. 

This, of course, they did, and the Fairy Queen 
gave him as well a suit of armour, so that he could 
get fairly near the Burning Mountain, as it was 
called, without being at once made into a dainty bit 
of fairy toast. 

Peasblossom knew he must meet and overcome 
many dangers were he to get even as near as that 
in the first place, and he thought it best to secure 
a gift box also, so if he needed to make friends on 
this toilsome journey he might have the means to 
about him. 

The Fairy Queen presented him with the key to 
her treasure chest and leave to pick and choose to 
his liking, but the fairy, not wishing to burden him- 
self, took only a beautiful quiver, a thing which is 
meant to hold arrows, and a drum and a piece of 
looking-glass. The quiver was really lovely. It 
was of gold, so closely gemmed that it flashed with 
every colour of the rainbow, but the drum was very 
ordinary and the mirror just a broken bit of looking- 
glass. 


THE PINETREE FAIRY, AND OTHERS 151 


Queer things to choose, you may think. But by 
now clever little Peasblossom had a plan. 

He was quite encouraged also, because any kind 
of a plan is a help against despair, and Peasblossom, 
knowing well he could never fight the Fire Queen 
alone, had determined to seek, if necessary, a very 
powerful friend in the matter. 

The friend he had selected was the Thunder King, 
between whom and the Fire Queen there was no love 
lost. But the Thunder King was even more hasty 
in temper than the Fire Queen, and Peasblossom 
knew there was danger in the attempt which he had 
planned. 

It was to be, in fact, a last desperate chance. And 
first he decided to use the power the three Queens 
had given him on the Burning Mountain. 

How he got there I have no time to tell you. But 
he had passed in safety the Brazen Castle of the Fire 
Queen, had crept through her garden, where only 
such flowers as Red Hot Poker-plant, Sunflowers 
and Burning Bush were allowed to grow, and was 
now as close as he could get in safety to the volcano, 
in whose fiery depths was hidden the crystal casket 
which held the three stolen crowns. 

Peasblossom at once called on the winds to help 
him. He bade them blow as hard as ever they could, 
and blow out, if possible, the flame of the Burning 
Mountain. 

At once they obeyed, and the most dreadful storm 
arose. Great trees were bent to the ground like 


152 PEASBLOSSOM, THE ADVENTURES OF 


twigs, the brass tiles of the very roof of the royal 
palace were whipped from their place, and the flow- 
ers in the Queen’s gardens were one and all up- 
rooted. 

Yet the winds but fanned the flame of the volcano, 
and its mighty roar drowned out the roar of the 
winds. 

So Peasblossom bade them cease, for they but made 
matters worse. He called, therefore, on the Snow 
Queen’s magic, and thick and fast came down the 
great white flakes which fell hissing into the gaping 
mouth of the fire mountain. 

Thick and fast, till all the world thereabouts 
was covered with a white blanket of snow, so deep 
that only the brazen helmets of the Fire Queen’s 
guards showed above it, and a time they had digging 
these same soldiers out, as I can tell you. 

But the flame was only subdued, not smothered, 
as the fairy had hoped. 

One chance was left, and at his urgent word of 
command all the water stored up by the Mist Queen 
for a rainy day came down in torrents on the mount 
of fire. 

But all that water was not enough. It flooded the 
Fire Queen Kingdom thereabouts, it is true, and as 
there never had been even a single rainfall there 
before, nobody, of course, had any rubbers, so it 
made a good deal of trouble, but the particular thing 
it was to accomplish it couldn’t do, and the Fire 
Mountain continued to burn, and the three crowns 


THE PINETREE FAIRY, AND OTHERS 153 


to lay secure in their fiery chamber, just where Phos- 
phorus, Sulphur and Brimstone had put them. So 
Peasblossom knew there was nothing for it after all 
but to go to the Thunder King. 

This mighty monarch lived on a mountain whose 
top was shrouded by dense black clouds. 

And when he got to the foot of it Peasblossom 
did a strange thing. He took out his little drum 
and began to beat upon it. And at the first stroke 
of the drum-stick one knew that this same plain lit- 
tle drum was no ordinary one, and was quite worthy 
of a place in the Fairy Queen’s treasure chest. 

Because? Well, because when Peasblossom beat 
upon it the sound was like thunder rolling deep and 
loud. 

And a few seconds of this drumming was enough 
for the Thunder King, who was as mad as mad could 
be at the noise. I was going to say as mad as hops, 
only that wouldn’t be dignified in a king, and he 
sent his soldiers post haste to bring before him the 
impudent fellow who had stolen his thunder. 

And that was how Peasblossom reached the royal 
presence. And the Thunder King, when he saw 
him, could hardly believe his eyes. 

Such a little fellow and such a terribly big noise! 

The fairy was quick-witted, as we know, and took 
advantage of this instant’s lull in the storm. 

‘T am the fairy Peasblossom, may it please your 
Majesty,” said he, “and I have come, great King, 
with a gift to you from my Queen, her Majesty the 


154 PEASBLOSSOM, THE ADVENTURES OF 


Queen of the Fairies.” And he removed his cap as 
he spoke. ‘‘She sends me to match my skill with 
yours, and if I win, you are to pay such forfeit as 
I please.” 

“And should you lose, you Peaspod full of 
impudence,” roared the King, so that all the massive 
furniture of the Palace shook at the sound, “should 
you lose. I’ll crush you without mercy beneath my 
iron heel.” 

“Oh, just as you like about that,” answered the 
fairy pleasantly, “but if I do not fail you’ll keep your 
part of our agreement, won’t you?” 

“I will!” roared the King, “and I’ll soon test your 
skill, my fine fellow. Bring hither my fiercest thun- 
der and lightning,” he commanded, and then such a 
storm arose as you and I, thank goodness, have never 
seen. 

But Peasblossom was ready for the test. As fast 
as the Thunder King thundered, the fairy made a 
noise on his drum that quite equalled the dreadful 
din the King made, and even surpassed it. And the 
lightning! No sooner had that flashed like a barbed 
silver lance from the angry monarch hand than with 
the broken mirror Peasblossom flashed as fierce a 
bolt and even a little fiercer. 

The fight waxed so terrible that all the Earth peo- 
ple hid under their beds and in their closets, and 
the very birds went to roost, so black was the pall of 
darkness that had settled over land and sea. 

But at length the King had to own himself beaten. 


THE PINETREE FAIRY, AND OTHERS 155 


and it was at that trying moment that Peasblossom 
presented him with the Queen’s gift, the golden 
quiver, “a worthy resting place for your Majesty’s 
arrows of forked lightning,” said the fairy, bowing 
low. 

And this pleased the Monarch so much that he 
forgot his ill temper at his defeat, and asked Peas- 
blossom quite pleasantly, for him, what he could do 
in return for the Queen’s courtesy. 

And Peasblossom told him the whole story: how 
the Queens had been robbed, where the crystal 
casket was hidden, what it contained, and why he, 
Peasblossom, must get back the three stolen crowns 
from the Fire Queen. 

Now, as I have told you, the Thunder King was 
not friendly with the red-haired royal lady of fierce 
temper, whose golden robes were covered thick with 
rubies and who ruled the Fire Kingdom. 

He, therefore, agreed without delay to what Peas- 
blossom asked of him, and that was nothing less 
than to split the Burning Mountain to its base by 
a triple shaft of forked lightning, which he accord- 
ingly did, and Peasblossom, protected by his magic 
armour, was able to snatch up the crystal casket from 
the burning mass that spread about it, though even 
this, quick as he was, did not save him from getting 
rather badly singed, since even magic armour melted 
in spots in that dreadful heat; dreadful still, though 
of course but half as terrible as it had been when 


156 PEASBLOSSOM, THE ADVENTURES OF 


enclosed in the heart of the Burning Mountain 
itself. 

But Peasblossom did not mind the pain, nor the 
fact that he lost both drum and mirror in the molten 
mass of lava. 

They had done their work, and he held the casket 
safe. Alarm bells pealed from the brazen towers 
of the Fire Queen’s Palace, soldiers swarmed at the 
call, but the fairy heeded them not. 

Forked lightning played about him at the com- 
mand of the Thunder King, so that none dared bar 
his way (though I admit it did make Peasblossom 
himself a trifle nervous), and soon he had reached 
the borderland of the Fire Queen’s Kingdom. 

From thence all was easy, and he had soon the 
happiness of holding the three crowns in his band- 
aged hands, and presenting them to his own royal 
mistress the Fairy Queen. 

And the thanL and the petting and the praise 
he received not only from her royal lips, but from 
the gratified owners! I leave it all to you to imag- 
ine, but what you perhaps cannot guess is the fact 
that even the cold Snow Queen melted, and she 
actually stooped and gave Peasblossom a kiss. 

And this is perhaps the most remarkable thing 
that befell our fairy hero in all the story. 

As for the three Queens, they went happily 
home with their crowns securely tucked under their 
arms. But the Fire Queen, who had stolen and lost 
these same royal trinkets, came down with the 


THE PINETREE FAIRY, AND OTHERS 157 


measles. She was so angry, and the red spots that 
came out all over her only faintly showed how fierce 
was her wrath within. But Peasblossom was very 
joyful, and fairy salve soon healed his burns. 




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PEASBLOSSOM AND THE PEACOCK 
PRINCE 






CHAPTER X 


PEASBLOSSOM AND THE PEACOCK 
PRINCE 

f M ^HIS story is not much about Peasblossom. 
g It is far more about the Peacock Prince. 
^ But still our little fairy friend comes into 
it, and so I shall leave it just as it is 

written. 

Once upon a time, then, the Peacock Prince lived 
in a most beautiful Palace. It was made of purest 
alabaster, marvellously carved, and it had towers, 
and balconies, and a drawbridge, and a moat, and 
the loveliest gardens. In these gardens flowers 
bloomed always, because there was never any winter 
in that fair land. In the branches of the trees many 
coloured singing birds poured forth melody, in the 
sun-lit pools gold and silver fish swam lazily about; 
on the soft green turf strutted peacocks, many pea- 
cocks, with tails of surpassing beauty. These pea- 
cocks were so famous that they gave the place its 
name, and the Prince, taking his title from his Pal- 
ace, became the Peacock Prince. 

Some envious people said that this was not the 
only reason. They admitted that the young ruler 

i6i 


162 PEASBLOSSOM, THE ADVENTURES OF 


of the land was handsome, and skilled in all princely 
sports, and that his country was prosperous and con- 
tent under his reign. But, said they, his conceit! 
He’s like the proudest and vainest of his own pea- 
cocks, and therefore well named. 

Now perhaps these good people had some reason 
for their remarks. It is certain, at any rate, that 
the Prince had had very bad bringing up. 

His parents had died when he was a baby, and 
his Fairy Godmother, a sweet, pleasant soul, with 
but little common sense, had done her best to spoil 
him. From his cradle, which was of gold, and filled 
with rose-coloured cushions of softest down, he had 
always had his own way, and not only that, but his 
attendants spent much of their time by his god- 
mother’s express orders in telling him that his way 
was far better than other people’s, and that he was 
the handsomest, finest, most remarkable Prince that 
had ever been seen. 

It is small wonder, therefore, that Prince Peacock 
believed them, and he did believe them firmly. 

And all this reaching the ears of the Fairy Queen, 
she was troubled and sent for her adviser, Peas- 
blossom. 

“What shall we do,” said his royal mistress, “to 
prevent this perfectly good Prince from being abso- 
lutely spoiled?” 

Peasblossom rested his chin in his hand, and 
thought long and hard. At last his face brightened. 

“I have it, your Majesty,” said he, “Prince Pea- 


THE PINETREE FAIRY, AND OTHERS 163 


cock should wed, and IVe just the one in mind: 
Her Royal Highness, the Princess Difficult. They’ll 
do each other a world of good.” 

The Queen of the Fairies nodded: “I believe 
you’re right, Peasblossom,” said she, “and you man- 
age it so that the Prince’s godmother will think the 
idea is of her own making.” 

And that was how it happened that Prince Pea- 
cock, on a milk-white steed, and looking, as ever, very 
handsome in a silken suit of emerald green and sap- 
phire blue, that made him appear like one of his own 
peacocks, went forth to court the Princess Difficult. 

He had heard that this same royal maiden had 
received her name from the fact that she was so hard 
to please — that many and many a king’s son had 
sued for her favour in vain. But he had no doubt of 
his own power to woo and win her. 

It was a lovely Summer day when Prince Pea- 
cock reached the Palace of his Princess, and found 
it almost as beautiful as his own. The gardens, too, 
were alike, except that in the place of the peacocks, 
there were countless mocking birds. “A queer taste,” 
thought the Prince, “but I will soon change all 
that.” 

You see he was perfectly sure of himself. 

Now the Princess happened to be in her most 
provoking mood. Her maids-of-honour told her that 
the rich and charming Prince Peacock awaited her 
pleasure, and it was her pleasure to keep him wait- 
ing, though she had caught sight of him from her 


164 PEASBLOSSOM, THE ADVENTURES OF 


turret window, and secretly thought him very good- 
looking. She had heard, however, of his conceit, 
and felt it a good thing to let him sit a while and 
cool his heels. The Prince had never had such 
treatment, and was furious. Only curiosity kept 
him from mounting his milk-white steed and riding 
off. 

As for the Princess, though she looked perfectly 
lovely already, and knew it, she had her hair done 
over three different ways, tried on six different 
gowns, and put powder on her pretty nose, which 
didn’t need it in the least, at least as many times as 
she changed her costume. And in the end, what do 
you think? In the end she got herself into a milk- 
maid’s dress and stole out of the Palace, leaving 
word to inform the Prince “that, after all, she was 
mo busy that morning to receive him.” 

Can you imagine Prince Peacock when this mes- 
sage reached him? He turned, in fact, several 
shades of his favourite colours, becoming in rapid 
turn green, purple and blue with rage. 

And he got himself to horse with the newest set 
of feelings. And the very strongest, stronger even 
than wounded vanity or conceit, was the feeling that 
he would see this Princess, and difficult though she 
might be, he would bring her to terms. 

“For,” thought the Prince, “she hasn’t yet met 
me.” Only he didn’t think it just that way. This 
is how he said it to himself: 

“She hasn’t yet met ME,” 


THE PINETREE FAIRY, AND OTHERS 165 


He was so busy with these thoughts that he almost 
rode over a very pretty milkmaid, who was stand- 
ing in the road which led to the Palace Gate. 

good girl,” said the Prince, vexed and 
alarmed, for fear he might have hurt her, ^^pray keep 
your wits about you.” 

“Thank you. Prince Peacock,” said she, bobbing 
a courtesy, “I will.” 

“How do you know who I am?” asked the Prince 
in astonishment. 

The milkmaid burst out laughing, and then put 
a corner of her apron between her teeth. 

“Come, come,” said Peacock pettishly, “out with 
it. IVe no time to dally with milkmaids.” 

“Then don’t,” said the milkmaid, raising beauti- 
ful deep grey eyes to his. 

The Prince looked and looked, and somehow 
couldn’t look away. 

“Won’t you tell me?” he asked in quite a differ- 
ent voice. 

“Oh, yes,” said the milkmaid, “it’s because you 
look and act so exactly like your name. But I 
haven’t time to dally with Princes,” and she turned 
away. 

Now, of course. Prince Peacock was sore and 
angry, and should have answered back: “Then 
don’t.” But again he just couldn’t. 

“Do you serve the Princess Difficult?” he asked 
instead. 


166 PEASBLOSSOM, THE ADVENTURES OF 


“Yes,” said the milkmaid, “or rather, no, for the 
Princess does exactly as I tell her.” 

“I believe,” said the Prince slowly— he had nim- 
ble wits, that Prince, “I believe,” said he, “that you 
are the Princess Difficult yourself.” 

“I believe I am,” said the milkmaid. 

Prince Peacock jumped down from his horse in 
a hurry. 

“Then,” said he, “Pve come to make you my 
Princess.” 

“Oh, have you?” said Difficult. 

“And I’ll do anything to win you,” said the Prince, 
carried away by her loveliness into talking in a man- 
ner quite unlike himself. 

“Will you?” said the Princess. And she looked 
at him for the first time, so kindly that the Prince 
sank on his knees and kissed her hand. 

“I wonder,” said the Princess, and then she added: 
“Would you serve as a groom in my stables for a 
year ” 

“Oh, no!” exclaimed the Prince in horror at such 
a thought, and he got up and brushed off the knees 
of his satin riding breeches. “But,” he added, “I’ll 
kill a dragon for you, or fight a giant, or any little 
thing like that.” 

But the Princess Difficult pouted. “I don’t know 
any dragons or giants that I want killed,” said she. 

“Then,” said the Prince, “I tell you what I’ll do. 
I’ll bring you the pearl necklace that is guarded by 
the Dwarfs.” 


THE PINETREE FAIRY, AND OTHERS 167 


Now everybody knows about this famous neck- 
lace, that lies in an ivory box underneath the Rain- 
bow Falls in the Dwarf Country, and the eyes of 
the Princess filled with joy. 

^‘Do you mean you’d take service with the Dwarfs 
for my sake?” said she. 

“I’ll bring you the necklace at any cost,” answered 
the Prince, “if you will wear it as my bride.” And 
he looked very manly, and for a wonder not at all 
conceited. 

As for the Princess, she looked very maidenly and 
not at all difficult, and thus it was settled. 

Prince Peacock rode back to his Palace in sober 
mood, and there he found waiting him his fairy god- 
mother. Nor was she pleased when he told her the 
story of his wooing. 

“You’ve promised a dangerous thing,” said she, 
“and I for one am against it. There a’ many and a’ 
many a Princess who’d know your worth, and take 
you in a shake of a lamb’s tail, with no ifs or buts. 
I’d just turn my back on this one. Who is she, any- 
way, I’d like to know, not to understand the honour 
you do her to even look at her?” 

But the Prince shook his head: “Dearest God- 
mamma,” said he, “you’ve never seen the Princess 
Difficult, or you wouldn’t talk that way,” and he 
began at once to look over his travelling things. His 
Fairy Godmother almost wept, she was so put out 
with him. 

“The Dwarfs will be sure to ask you to do what 


168 PEASBLOSSOM, THE ADVENTURES OF 


no Prince with any idea of his own value can do,” 
sobbed she. 

“I don’t care,” said Prince Peacock, and Peas- 
blossom, who was lurking near, invisible to both of 
them, clapped his hands softly together and flew with 
the good news to the Fairy Queen. 

‘‘You’ll have to wear old clothes,” said the Fairy 
Godmother. 

“All right,” said the Prince cheerfully, and he 
immediately threw out of his pack a peach-blow suit 
trimmed with silver, a white satin suit encrusted with 
gold, and a suit of pearl brocade bordered with pea- 
cocks’ feathers. He also discarded a velvet cape of 
crushed rose colour, several embroidered vests with 
jewelled buttons, a cap of gold tissue bordered with 
rubies, six pairs of satin shoes, one dozen white kid 
gloves with his monogram in pearls on their backs, 
and other trifles of the same nature. 

In fact, in the end the Prince had to send out and 
borrow a suit of clothing from one of his own game 
keepers, and as for his luggage, it all went into a 
knapsack, and this the Prince planned to carry on 
his own royal shoulders. 

The Fairy Godmother wrung her hands. 

“Nobody would take you for a Prince,” moaned 
she. 

“All the better,” answered Peacock, smiling, “I’ll 
have less trouble getting into the Dwarfs’ country, 
that’s all,” and whistling merrily he took up his 
knapsack and started. 


THE PINETREE FAIRY, AND OTHERS 169 . 


But his Fairy Godmother ran after him. 

“Since you will go,” said she, “here is some magic, 
all I happen to have with me this morning. Take 
this walnut shell and guard it carefully. Break it 
only in your greatest need. And now, fare you well. 
And I must just tell you that your gamekeeper’s suit 
is the most becoming thing you ever had on, and 
you are the handsomest Prince I ever did see, and 
the bravest, and the most generous.” 

And it shows how much Peacock had improved 
already when I tell you that these praises fairly made 
him blush, and he hurriedly kissed his Godmother 
good-bye, thanked her for her gift, and departed on 
his journey, taking with him of all his riches but a 
single peacock’s feather in his cap. 

Now the Dwarfs’ country was very far, and the 
Prince was in such a hurry to get there and get back 
again that before he had travelled long on his way 
he nearly cracked the magic walnut, hoping to find 
some conveyance within it. But while he was pon- 
dering the matter a shrill neighing fell upon his 
ears, and he looked up to see a beautiful flying horse 
caught fast by its wings in a thicket of brambles. 
The lovely creature dared not struggle for fear of 
tearing its delicate feathers, which were so strong 
in the air to fly with but so apt to get hurt in a place 
like this. 

Prince Peacock at once sprang to the rescue, and 
though he got rather badly torn by the brambles 
himself, he was able soon to free the winged horse. 


170 PEASBLOSSOM, THE ADVENTURES OF 


and the grateful animal in payment for this favour 
offered to carry him to the border of the Dwarf 
Country. 

Dwarfs, as you know, are cousins to gnomes ; only 
gnomes live under the earth, and dwarfs live on top. 
They both have brown skins and long noses, and 
they both are small but very strong. They are also 
rather stupid, and yet crafty at the same time. 

When the Prince in his huntsman’s clothing was 
seen by them they were much excited. Seldom was 
a stranger found in their distant land, and Peacock 
was at once brought before the captain of the King’s 
guard and questioned as to his business there. Pea- 
cock told him he was a traveller come to see what 
he could see. That what he had heard of the Dwarf 
Country had made him curious, and he hoped to 
bring back some one of their marvels to show his 
own countrymen when he returned. 

^‘That’s all very well,” said the Dwarf soldier, 
who was rather flattered by the stranger’s answer, 
‘^but our King will have no idlers here. If you stay 
you must take service under him. What can you 
do?” 

The Prince swallowed hard. He was not pleased 
at these words. In fact, his proud spirit could 
hardly bear them, but he remembered his errand in 
time and answered quite meekly, for him: 

“I can hunt,” said he. 

‘^Goodl” cried the Dwarf, “that’s just the thing. 
Our King wants fresh deer’s meat. So go you into 


THE PINETREE FAIRY, AND OTHERS 171 


the forest and get him a deer. I see you have both 
bow and arrows. Mind you, bring him one, for if 
you do not, our King will make you very sorry.” 

Again Prince Peacock choked back his rising 
anger, and bent his head in answer. 

After all, this was work to his liking, because he 
could now see something of the Dwarfs’ Country, 
and on account of his huntsman’s badge no dwarf 
would presume to stop him. Maybe, with good 
luck, he would find the Rainbow Falls. Anyway, 
this was his chance. 

It was morning when he set out on his task, and 
he had gone many a weary mile through the Dwarfs’ 
forest without seeing so much as the hair of a deer. 
He was hot, and thirsty, tired and hungry. He 
looked with longing at his walnut. Perhaps it con- 
tained a delicious luncheon and a flask of ruby wine. 
Should he crack the shell? But something said 
within him: “Go on. Prince, this is not the hour of 
your greatest need.” So he manfully tightened up 
his belt and proceeded on his way. 

And now, at last, was he rewarded. A beautiful 
stag had thrust its antlered head through a thicket 
near and was watching him. 

The Prince sprang to his feet and followed close 
as the deer bounded lightly away. Peacock was a 
famous runner, and now he had need of his skill, 
for the chase was long. In the end, however, he 
had driven the stag into a corner from which there 


172 PEASBLOSSOM, THE ADVENTURES OF 


was no escape, and the Prince fitted his arrow to 
his bow. 

Yet somehow he could not bring himself to aim 
at it. Still he was about to pull the cord when the 
deer spoke: 

“Prince, spare my life,” said he, “and I’ll take 
you to a spot where you may see the Rainbow Falls.” 

“You will?” said Peacock, in astonishment. 

“Jump on my back,” said the deer, “and hold fast 
to my horns, because the going is rough and the 
way far. The Dwarfs have hedged the Falls about 
with a labyrinth, a maze of paths where the travel- 
ler circles about and never finds the end. I know 
the way, so fear not.” 

“Princes do not fear,” said Peacock haughtily. 
But he got himself to the stag’s back and was glad 
to hold on tight, because no race horse ever went 
so swiftly. 

In and out, and round about. It was surely a 
puzzle that Prince Peacock could never have guessed 
by himself. 

But the stag carried him safely to the end, and 
the Prince found himself in the late afternoon at 
the edge of a clearing, and in the distance softly 
gleamed the wonderful Rainbow Falls. 

“I can do no more than this. Prince,” said the 
stag, “except to tell you to beware of yonder patch 
of poppies that hem in the waterfall beyond. Many 
a one has fallen asleep there and never awakened. 
The Dwarfs set no guards because the magic slum- 


THE PINETREE FAIRY, AND OTHERS 173 


bering air keeps their treasure so well. Ha!” snorted 
the stag as a puff of wind from over the poppy fields 
reached them. “I myself begin to feel sleepy.” And 
the deer turned and dashed into the forest, leaving 
Prince Peacock, who suddenly had become very 
drowsy, standing alone. 

Peacock felt himself sinking to sleep, and with 
a great effort managed to crack his walnut shell. 
Within was a little piece of cotton wool. 

A voice somewhere (or was it all a dream?) said: 
“Peacock, a proud Prince like yourself could not bear 
to owe your safety to so small a thing.” But another 
voice, remarkably like Peasblossom’s, if I may say 
10, called: “Quickly put the cotton wool in your 
nostrils and brave the poppy fields unhurt.” 

And the Prince, hardly knowing what he did, 
obeyed. At once his senses cleared, and he advanced 
through the dangerous poppy field unhurt because 
he could not breathe the poison-laden air. 

At last, at last, he stood beside the Rainbow Falls. 
The many-hued torrents of water fell splashing over 
a great rock down to a foaming river beneath. Un- 
der them somewhere was the ivory box, and in the 
box, the pearls. 

The Prince’s heart beat fast. He took off his 
knapsack and high huntsman’s laced boots, threw 
down his bow and arrows, cast aside his brown 
leather jerkin and prepared to dive under the glow- 
ing waterfall. 

But just as he started to leap he saw that the 


174 PEASBLOSSOM, THE ADVENTURES OF 


stream was full of lovely water nymphs with 
wreathes of river cress on their hair, and these held 
out their white arms, and sang: 

^^^Peacock Prince, we wait for thee, 

We fair children of the sea. 

Thou shalt never miss thy home. 

For the daughters of the foam 
Shall bring thee such joyous days 
And thy meed of rightful praise; 
Handsomest of Princes, we 
Would your willing handmaids be. 

And as they sang thus, they smiled and beckoned, 
and Peacock was sorely tempted to give up his quest, 
and loiter there beneath the Rainbow Falls with the 
enchanting water nymphs, who somehow seemed to 
appreciate his charms more than was the wont of 
the Princess Difficult. 

But something within him, the memory of the 
royal maiden in her milkmaid’s dress, I believe it 
was, forbade. 

He sternly shook his head at the lovely nymphs, 
and they on the instant disappeared. The next. 
Peacock had taken a flying leap and was underneath 
the famous falls, groping blindly for the ivory cas- 
ket, and holding his breath till his lungs nearly burst. 
And just as he felt he must give up, his fingers 
closed on a ring. He gave a mighty pull, and came 
to the surface of the water, and sure enough, he held 
the Dwarf treasure in his hand. 


THE PINETREE FAIRY, AND OTHERS 175 


Then, with swift, sure strokes, he swam down- 
stream, and it was fortunate the strong current 
helped him, for he was well-nigh spent. 

Soon he turned over on his back and let the river 
carry him along, and he saw now on the borders 
of the stream the angry Dwarfs, crying out wrath- 
fully, running along shaking their fists and striving 
to keep up with him. 

Soon they began throwing stones, which was not 
pleasant for the Prince, since the Dwarfs had good 
aim and strong arms, and many a pebble reached its 
mark. Others made loops of tough river grass and 
tried to ensnare him, but the Prince, like a nimble 
trout, slipped out of their toils. But at last they 
gave up in despair, because the river had come to 
the boundary of the Dwarf Kingdom and beyond it 
they might not go. 

But the stream that had been so kind a friend now 
turned traitor. Perhaps the water nymphs had 
planned it for revenge. At any rate, instead of 
going straight along like a respectable fair-minded 
river, it filtered itself unexpectedly into a bog, and 
the Prince got quite covered with slimy mud before 
he could manage to climb out. 

However, he held fast his precious casket, and 
went bravely on. 

It was not easy-going, and for food he had naught 
but berries growing wild, and for drink, water from 
such springs as he found by chance. 

And he did not look much like the Prince Pea- 


176 PEASBLOSSOM, THE ADVENTURES OF 


cock who had first come a-wooing when he at last 
reached his Princess. 

She, by the way, was in great trouble, because 
her people had risen and demanded that by noon of 
that very day she should decide which of her many 
suitors she would choose. And the Palace was full 
to overflowing with them. To escape them, and to 
think what she could do. Difficult had gone to a 
secret bower in her garden, and it was there that 
Prince Peacock stumbled, exhausted, to his knees 
before her, and giving her the ivory casket he had 
gone so far to seek, told her that he would also, if 
she wished it, become her stable boy and serve her 
for a year as well. 

But the Princess clasped him in her arms, mud 
and all, to the great disfigurement of her white satin 
dress, and just as he was — bruised, dirty, barefoot — 
she made him come with her to the Palace, where 
were all the other Princes in silks and satins, and 
there Difficult proclaimed him her choice. 

Nor was it altogether because of the wonderful 
pearl necklace that now shimmered on her white 
neck, that she did so. 

And the end of it was, as I believe you have 
guessed, such a wedding as was never seen before. 

Gilt gingerbread was given away in the streets, 
the fountains ran wine, fireworks were free to all, 
and every child had as many pennies to spend in the 
toy shops as he or she could carry. 

As for Prince Peacock, nothing of his old-time 


THE PINETREE FAIRY, AND OTHERS 177 


vanity and conceit remained with him but his name. 
And as for the Princess Difficult, she had just enough 
difficulty left to make her sweetly unexpected, 
which the Prince did not mind in the least. And so, 
as I have said, they were married and lived happily 
forever after. But Peasblossom danced with the 
Prince’s Fairy Godmother at the wedding. 


THE END 


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